With gas prices going up, and the economy struggling, what have you cut out or cut down on?
Well, I've always cut down on prices. Never buy something without a discount or coupon. So I really haven't cut down or cut out anything. My budget gives me a $20-40 cushion for each paycheck so I can always go over, or just dump that into the rest of my savings.
I've cut back mostly in my groceries and going out. We only eat out once a week now and use coupons and sales for our grocery purchases. We are doing more things at home to avoid going out and wasting gas or money on entertainment.
I use a combination of thing to cut down including coupons and the old trick asking myself, "is this a want or a need?" In addition I ditched cable tv and have never looked back!
http://richardpac.hubpages.com/hub/Save … et-Free-TV
I'm giving that a lot of thought these days. I don't use much gas but as soon as I go out to my daughter's a couple of times a week, my gas tank goes down quickly. I think we need to look at our budget and weigh if we need all those DISH channels and two cell phones. We have no debts other than a mortgage so unless it is food, I am not sure where to cut.
I've cut down (or completely out) a lot of things since an early retirement precipitated by an accident that left me with limited mobility and a sharply reduced income. I established priorities. My closet contained enough clothing to probably last me the remainder of my life, with a few exceptions, so buying clothes is not in my budget.
Eating safe food is a major priority, so I purchase only organics and mostly whole foods. This means I cook from scratch and never go to restaurants. Don't miss that scene at all, and I know what I'm eating. Same goes for feeding my beloved dog: homemade food from organic ingredients. Even with buying organic foods, not buying junk foods or eating out helps me keep my food budget in check. Eating unsafe food ends up costing more long-term with illnesses and healthcare costs. "We are what we eat" has never been more true, especially in the U.S. where the FDA and USDA cannot be counted on to look after consumers' welfare. (Those corrupt agencies are too busy looking after Big Business and Big Pharma.) Because healthcare costs for both my dog and me are priorities, those stay in the budget.
I do not have cable TV (wouldn't watch it anyway), and I use my public library card weekly. I have a Netflix account for $8.55 per month and own a Roku (small one-time cost) that allows me to watch on my TV set. Reading, playing music (CDs I already own and playing my electronic keyboard), writing fiction and articles for HP, corresponding with family and friends and via phone conversations--these are my entertainment. Gas prices don't concern me, for I rarely drive more than ten miles per week.
Regardless of an individual's or family's financial situation, it comes down to what is important for her, him or them: setting priorities and reducing or giving up those things that are not priorities.
Sounds simple, but this does require attention and work!
by Suzanne Levac 14 years ago
I just heard that it is very probable that the gas will go up to $5.00 a gallon in the near...future in the United States; do you think it will happen? And why is it going up that much?
by Randy Godwin 7 years ago
Gas prices are soaring as usual under Republican leadership. This will hurt middle and lower classes more than it does those who got the lions' share of the tax cuts. Not only do we have to repay the Chinese for the money we borrowed , we now have to pay higher prices for fuel. I hope those wanted...
by T. Clifton 11 years ago
Will you be going on vacation this year?Will you be going on vacation this year or are you reluctant to spend the money because of the economy and high gas prices?
by Leslie McCowen 13 years ago
Boehner says they have been working waaaaay too hard....time for another vaca.What do you say, $10,000 that they go to Tahiti?
by Lgali 16 years ago
Oil Prices Going up Means Economy is Doing Good..
by Sharlee 3 years ago
With inflation rising and gas prices surging, Biden faces hard political realities ahead of the November midterm elections. Part of the problem could be if he pushed too quickly to initiate his plan for clean energy. He came into office and used his pen to truly piss off "big...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |