Spending more or less in quarantine? | The Boneyard

Spending more or less in quarantine?

Palatine

Palatine

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I'm spending much less. No lunches. I filled the gas tank once at $1.99 a gallon. Even my liquor consumption is down, that probably has something to do with less sports on TV.

But my wife, who has been a big internet shopper is making up for my frugality. There is a package (or packages) at our front door daily. And if she thinks of it, we need one. She is buying clothes for both of us. Plus, she is hiring workmen to cut trees or mulch or anything. It's probably a wash. But at some point she will need to be broken from this habit.
 
I like to have a nice lunch at least once a week if possible, especially when the weather is stellar like today. I am saving a ton just on that alone. In fact I ordered takeout from one of my usual spots for lunch today and the owner threw in a bottle of wine because he was so happy for the business. I tipped him more than enough to cover it and I still felt guilty about it.
 
Mostly less. Some bigger items were going to be purchased anyway, like my new Bosch dishwasher. Got money back from cancelled concerts and events, but my cancelled flights just leave me with tons of airline "credit". That's BS.

Far less on gas. Less on restaurant and beers out. But we aren't being shy about buying Trillium or Treehouse, and I've been uninhibited in buying spirits and wine. Also spending on new casual shoes. I used to wear my running shoes too long, but now that it's all I wear really so I grabbed some new ones (didn't fit, going back) as well as a pair of these. Perfect for summer WFH. Lae‘ahi
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Mostly less. Some bigger items were going to be purchased anyway, like my new Bosch dishwasher. Got money back from cancelled concerts and events, but my cancelled flights just leave me with tons of airline "credit". That's BS.

Far less on gas. Less on restaurant and beers out. But we aren't being shy about buying Trillium or Treehouse, and I've been uninhibited in buying spirits and wine. Also spending on new casual shoes. I used to wear my running shoes too long, but now that it's all I wear really so I grabbed some new ones (didn't fit, going back) as well as a pair of these. Perfect for summer WFH. Lae‘ahi
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Re your flight credit, if they cancelled and not you, fight for a refund instead. You are entitled to it. They will yield if you make a stink.

I love the way OluKai shoes look but for some reason none of them have been comfortable on me. I must be a bad match for their last.
 
More. I had been traveling just about every week for work so right now I am home eating my own food and using my own water etc......
 
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More... and less.

(I am spending more, significantly, but they excess is being reimbursed, plus other payments.)
 
8893 said:
Re your flight credit, if they cancelled and not you, fight for a refund instead. You are entitled to it. They will yield if you make a stink.
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And dispute the charge on your CC if you they give you grief.
 
Probably less. As much as I try to bring my lunch, I usually end up buying breakfast, lunch and a 3pm snack most days while in the office. Now at home I'm making everything during the day but we try to support the local restaurants when we just don't feel like making lunch or dinner. So we usually try to order from various places 2-3 times a week which adds up but still much less that what I was spending going to the office.
 
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Less here. I typically eat lunch out on weekdays, and it's usually $20 per, minimum. Also no happy hour beer. Instead of going shopping for groceries every day or two like we used to, we've been buying for a week+ at a time, and I think that saves a little. Also haven't bought gas in 6 weeks.

I've been collecting wine for decades, but I was still buying a couple of bottles per week for weeknight meals. Now, I haven't been to a wine/liquor store in basically 2 months. We've been drinking exclusively from the cellar. Downside is we are completely, 100% out of everything else. No bourbon, tequila, vodka, gin....the cabinet is totally empty.

The other big one was all of our daughter's activities - art and acting lessons, violin, other stuff that we used pay for that have been cancelled.
 
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Much less. Haven't bought much besides groceries and take out food. My wife has bought a bunch of things on-line for the house and some clothes although much less than normal.
 
Much less.

We order out no more than once a week and almost all alcohol consumption (4-5 glasses/week) has been from boxed wine or Bullett bourbon from a big bottle. Misfits Market has helped us save money on groceries too.

I almost never shop, but my wife has decreased shopping too. Last weekend, I filled up the gas tank for the first time since mid-March, so we're saving about 120/month on gas.

A lot of my disposable income comes from tutoring and coaching so since that has almost completely gone away (no coaching and down to just one online hour of tutoring a week) I naturally spend less.

Overall, our teaching contracts for next year have decreased too, so trying to be more prudent with spending discipline to help prepare for that.
 
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8893 said:
Re your flight credit, if they cancelled and not you, fight for a refund instead. You are entitled to it. They will yield if you make a stink.

I love the way OluKai shoes look but for some reason none of them have been comfortable on me. I must be a bad match for their last.
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I love OluKai shoes. Never thought I’d spend that much on casual shoes but after destroying some Reef and Rainbow sandals I tried the Olukais and loved them. Then bought some casual shoes from them and have been happy as well.
 
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Much less...but that is easy when daycare is closed and we are not dishing out $500/wk. With that said I cannot wait for daycare to be open again, safely that is.
 
More.... Fridge died had to pay a nice chunk to repair it. Microwave died another repair. Lawn mower died and my Ryobi battery died... Had to replace those.
Then there is the projects. Wife paid a pretty penny for year round yard treatments and we are doing some landscaping. Weeks away from buying a new mattress. Next looking into new screen doors and maybe a fence for the yard?
Not to mention I can't stop buying stuff for my Jeep! Now I have time for the installation.
Spending way less on food though and only one kid is in daycare. Less gas expense...
 
Way more food at the grocery store. It seems to be the thing to do for me... look at girls... they look at me (quarantine must make me a Dapper Dan in a mask)... and have had zero takeout excep slices from my local by me. I've put about ten pounds on in six weeks and have to atteibute it to diet as alcohol consumption is down. Harumph.
 
I think spending the same or close to it.
I own 1/2 car business and it’s been busy as hell. I’m retired from job 1 and job 2 now has been helping but right now it’s strong. People need their older cars fixed
 
It’s tough not to spend a ton of money scrolling through targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram all day. My only real personal splurge was my Dream Season throwback shorts which my wife thought were hideous (she doesn’t know they were $70 too).
 
Generally much less - I figure we're saving $300+ a month on gas. I haven't filled my car in 2 months and it still has half a tank. Also way less on food. I eat out everyday when I'm at work, so another $300 less/month there. Probably another $100/month saved on dry cleaning. We are being far better about eating everything we cook to limit the trips to the store, so there's some savings there instead of throwing stuff out after a week. Another $220 a month saved on not having people clean our house as we're home all day not only can do it ourselves, but having someone in the house for 6+ hours twice a month who have been in other people's houses daily is not something I want to deal with. I'm probably missing something, but that's a little over $900/month less.

We did buy an extra fridge because our primary died. But that would have been a sunk cost anyway, plus the repair.
 
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Spending less and spending differently. Saving and investing more. My donations are up. Paying down some debt as well.

Have played almost 30 rounds of golf since the world shut down. It’s basically the only money i’ve spent other than my standard monthly nut.
 
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Apparently I'm the only one but I feel like I'm spending more the past few months. I've been a proponent of the slow reopen and keeping things closed but I've hit my breaking point this weekend and I'm not sure how much more of this I can take
 
Spending about the same. Since we're retired its a different economic setup.

We usually went out to eat twice a week. Now we have our favorite restaurants, that are close by, deliver. Gas consumption is down some. Golf cart time is down a lot since everything in our community has been closed down.

The wife did a little more spending online for the office/ computer room/ studio. The community has a "university" were residents teach course on a variety of subjects. Since she is the "guru of technology" - and these are not my words but residents' words, she had to get a green screen, a studio mike, some cables and the like. I had to pick up a couple more instrument mikes & cables for when the two bands I play in start up.

Now that things are opening up here in Florida, our spending may go up some. Restaurants are open at 25% capacity and full capacity for outdoor seating. As of Monday, restaurants go up to 50% capacity. Stores are open too.
 
navery12 said:
Apparently I'm the only one but I feel like I'm spending more the past few months. I've been a proponent of the slow reopen and keeping things closed but I've hit my breaking point this weekend and I'm not sure how much more of this I can take
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As an exercise, try this - don't buy anything for a week. Make do as much as possible, use the back of the pantry. Of course fill in where necessary but try to limit it. It worked for us (2 ppl). It gave us a goal, helped our creativity (mostly by using the net). Go for walks and burn some citrus candles.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Mostly less. Some bigger items were going to be purchased anyway, like my new Bosch dishwasher. Got money back from cancelled concerts and events, but my cancelled flights just leave me with tons of airline "credit". That's BS.

Far less on gas. Less on restaurant and beers out. But we aren't being shy about buying Trillium or Treehouse, and I've been uninhibited in buying spirits and wine. Also spending on new casual shoes. I used to wear my running shoes too long, but now that it's all I wear really so I grabbed some new ones (didn't fit, going back) as well as a pair of these. Perfect for summer WFH. Lae‘ahi
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you might not be able to return them. Let me know if thats the case.
 
I have been putting whatever spending money i usually have after bills aside since early april. Counted it yesterday and have nearly $4k!!! . Ive really realized how much money i spent on frivolous stuff. I ended up taking out $1500 and donating to a local charity.
 
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