Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Paddy Tobin]

Cuban cigars only when on holidays.

Paddy

[Ragged Robin]

I wonder what other Forumists would consider to be dispensable, given the appropriate circumstances?

Any food in layers of packaging, every household in the UK spends a fortune on packaging without even knowing it.....
We've given up wine Lesley and I don't miss it as much as i thought I would so good luck.  Do hope things work out for you.

[ranunculus]

We've given up caviar on Thursdays and a new car every month ... and our footman only gets a replacement uniform twice a year.  Austerity is a terrible place ... like Blackpool!   

[Maggi Young]

It seems you are instituting austerity measures with an even handed approach, Cliff.

[Martinr]

We have Costa coffee outlets at work so I'd give up my coffee and my morning pain au raisin but my Friday morning bacon & egg roll is considered a necessity.

[annew]

If I could temporarily give up breathing, I could get back out in the garden. The fire site is still smouldering and the wind has swung in our direction. I've a group coming on Monday and the place is a mess because I've been concentrating on propagating the bulbs. That'll teach me to leave things till the last minute.

[Lesley Cox]

Good coffee will be the last to go, for me. New clothes went years ago. Someone asked me the other day where was the bin I got my coat from?

[TheOnionMan]

I wonder what other Forumists would consider to be dispensable, given the appropriate circumstances?

Nearly 11 months out of work does wonders to inspire frugality... a life lesson that will persist even after (hopefully) finding new work, though I live a modest life style to begin with.

Give up wine?  Never, but cut consumption (sip....lonnNNNGGGGGG_pause....sip), give up fine premium wine, buy only half-way decent bargain wine.

Stop going to the movie theater (costs ~ $40 for family of 4, just for tickets), borrow movies from local libraries instead, that is, until the financial crisis in various US States and local communities closes many libraries (it's happening here, this year we voted down a measure to close down our town library to save money ).

New clothes, forget about it.  New running shoes, forget about it.

Ordering plants and seeds, forget about it.

Coffee?  Switch over to tea (my wife, I've been a long-times tea drinker), much cheaper than coffee.

Magazine subscriptions - all allowed to expire.

Run the air conditioner - only when above 90 F (32.2 C) and humid.

Eating out - change from once weekly to RARELY.  If dining out, order wisely... share entrees, order only appetizers, most chain restaurants have "side dishes" that can be ordered that are ridiculously cheap... share an appetizer and order a couple sides, that's dinner!  No wine ordered at a restaurant, water will do please.

Avoid unnecessary or frivolous driving.  Try to gang errands together for efficient gas usage.  Do anything to avoid the auto repair shop.

Grocery bills, this is often a family's largest expenditure, it is for us.  Lots of things can be done here.
-- give up beef.  My wife makes awesome beef stew, but when beef is ~$7 US a pound, that is 7x more than chicken at ~$1/lb.
    I used to grill filet mignon steaks in summer ($16/lb), but now... forget about it, turkey burgers will do.
-- no "prepared" types of frozen or refrigerated meals, the cost per pound on these is very high compared to buying whole foods.
-- find a grocery store where store brands are not only cheaper, but also good quality.  We save 30-50% by buying store brand.
-- only buy fruit when reasonable, on sale, or in season.  Same thing with some veggies.

Being frugal is a fine art.  I'm going to try some of Cliff's austerity measures too, I think we've been blowing the budget with all that caviar.

[Susan Band]

Lesley, Oleg has been in Scotland for the last couple of weeks so no chance of him overheating
Susan

[Tony Willis]

I wonder what other Forumists would consider to be dispensable, given the appropriate circumstances?

I suppose its down to priorities,the car is having its 162000 mile service on Wednesday and looks a bit tired and its driver is usually a bit worn looking as well, although with not as many rust spots, but is sat typing this with a nice glass of Australian Chardonnay which I think will be followed by a second

[Lesley Cox]

Well I was hoping to keep on the footman but as he's to have the foot operated on soon, I may decide to abandon him to his fate. 

Chicken at $1 (even US) a pound? Wow! Its about 4 to 8 times that here, (we measure in kilos, so between $5 and $18 a kg, depending on the cut). Free range chicken will be twice as much again. Worth remembering is that - according to assorted wine writers - French wine is 5% superb and 95% undrinkable while, they say, NZ wine is 10% superb and 90% very drinkable. Much the same for Australians.

[Lesley Cox]

Lesley, Oleg has been in Scotland for the last couple of weeks so no chance of him overheating
Susan

Well that's good to hear Susan though I guess he'll get some shocks when he goes home. I hope we hear from Olga soon that she is OK.

[TheOnionMan]

Well I was hoping to keep on the footman but as he's to have the foot operated on soon, I may decide to abandon him to his fate. 

Chicken at $1 (even US) a pound? Wow! Its about 4 to 8 times that here, (we measure in kilos, so between $5 and $18 a kg, depending on the cut). Free range chicken will be twice as much again. Worth remembering is that - according to assorted wine writers - French wine is 5% superb and 95% undrinkable while, they say, NZ wine is 10% superb and 90% very drinkable. Much the same for Australians.

Sometimes, when there are special sales, we get chicken at 69 cents per US pound  (~2/3rd one US dollar).  Chicken at the very low prices are whole chickens, or whole breasts or leg quarters, which apparently doesn't sell as much any more because no one wants to truly cook and deal with a whole chicken or major chicken parts, but there's a huge market for the special select cut chicken, such as skinless & boneless chicken tenders that can go for $3-$5 lb.  Free range chickens, you have to free-range your wallet to purchase.

Love Australian wines, syrahs in particular, and of course NZ Pinot Noirs, but I could hardly afford the Pinot even when I was working.  Also, many Spanish wines are highly drinkable and some good bargains.  Only buying cheaper domestic (California) varieties currently while I'm on a budget.

[John Kitt]

Good to see you're back on line Lesley. Thought you might be still on the Hutt!!

Your only consolation is that it did it to us before it got to you.

Chicken is the budget choice here at $7 - $10 per kilo for choicest breasts compared with $18 - $25 per kilo for beef and lamb.
Nobody sells mutton any more.

[Lesley Cox]

Good to see you're back on line Lesley. Thought you might be still on the Hutt!!

Your only consolation is that it did it to us before it got to you.

Short attenton span is a sign of Alzheimer's I believe, but mine must be REALLY short as I've totally lost this...

Oh, now I get it, the 1200 odd who were trapped on Mt Hutt a couple of nights ago? No I wasn't up there, never did go skiing and not much summer mountaineering nowadays either. But I know that road very well and there have been numerous cars blown right off it in the strong nor'west wings. Two Australian women were killed when their car went over a few years ago. The ski people were right to close the road with gusts to 200 kms per hour. It must have been a fun night for all, or maybe not. They learned what sardines in a tin felt like. The chef and his staff did a brilliant job feeding all those when usually they don't have overnighters at all so far as I know.