If you had a successful career before you retired, you might have been like me and some of my friends. We didn't bother to brown-bag. We would much rather eat-out than save a few nickles.

On an average day, we might stop at the local Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts in the morning for a large coffee and maybe something to munch on. Then, at break time, we would pop down to the cafeteria or lunch room for another beverage. We always went out for lunch . At a minimum we spent $10-15 a day, and if we went out for beers at the local watering hole, add another $20. On weekends, we would typically go out with our spouses to dinner and a movie. Maybe take-out pizza or Chinese a few times a month. Even when we went to dinner at friends we would bring wine or desert. During those days, the expense of these activities didn't bother us. We were making good money - and heck, what's the point of working your tail off, if you can't indulge yourself, right?

Eating-out wasn't the only indulgence. We got $30 haircuts at the hairdressers. We bought our clothes at the best stores. We wanted the latest stereo and digital gadgetry. Someone came to mow the lawn, clean the house, deliver the groceries - mundane chores that we didn't think we had the time for.

Survival on a fixed income generally means learning to downsize. The biggest expense - eating-out is the first budget item to get pruned. These days, I buy my coffee at Starbucks by the pound for just under $10. They grind it for free. Now, I brew it at home at a cost of about 35 cents a cup instead of $1.70.

We seldom eat in restaurants these days unless we are meeting friends, or traveling. We've decided that the 300% mark-up on food and drinks is not worth the difference in experience over cooking at home.

We don't usually bother with coupons, which always seem to feature items or quantities we don't really want. But there is an occasional value worth clipping.

We do our food shopping with the weekly flyer specials in hand. You don't need to pay the membership fee to join one of those warehouse shopping clubs to save money on paper goods. Our local markets run specials in six-week cycles. If you can wait for the sale, you can get non-perishables like paper towels and water just as cheaply. We stock-up enough product to hold us until the next cycle.

Another example, we wait for the specials on boneless chicken breasts and buy the "family pack" at $1.88 per pound. We divide the raw breasts into meal portions and freeze them in bags. We have plenty of time nowadays so we can go to the market that is offering the best specials.

No longer do we pay $1.00 (or more) for a bottle of water from a vending machine. We buy 24 bottles for $3.99! And if you are patient, you can stock-up with three 12-packs of Coke for $11, how can you beat that? We check out the "BOGO" (Buy one, get one free) and "Two- Fors" for items that we normally buy. Brand name butter usually around $4.00 per pound, sells for $1.44 during the specials. Once I know the sale price of an item, it kills me to pay the full undiscounted price, but nobody is perfect. So I can't say I never buy anything at full price - but I hate when that happens.

These days I get my haircuts at the local chain. With the senior discount, It costs about $12.00 pre-tip. I buy all of my clothes on sale, out of season, and cheap. I stay out of movie theaters, night clubs and stadiums. I spend less than $10 on bottles of wine in quantities at my local package store so I can get the 15% discount. I mow my own lawn. Our TV's and stereos are well out of warranty.

The only extravegances these days are our annual extended getaway in the Fall (last year we spent a month in Hawaii); also, we still pay a gal to come and clean the house twice a month. (Some indulgences are very hard to give up).

And then, of course,  there are the Grandchildren - who get anything they want.