High Gas and Food Prices...Any Tips

[Dr. Robert]

No problem.......I've taken to robbing banks to supplement my income.

[Bolaberlim]

I'm Portuguese, and I guess you all hear the news. It's not that BAD! The only thing that I notice is credit is very expensive. It's not a good time to buy anything that requires credit, like a home or a car. Other than that, I guess there are some places worst than others, but it's pretty much business as usual. We have a sovereign debt crisis, but the economy doens't seem to want to fold. Historically we are very resilient and enjoy proving others wrong. I think the whole country is rallying for it.
Our Gas is 1.76€ per litre, it's really expensive. Food, I haven't really noticed any increase. Even with our rise in VAT most places kept their prices, fruit and vegetables have been stable for the past two years, meat too. We usually cook at home, it's ingrained in our culture. I have noticed however that things like wine have been selling less. I guess it's not a priority, so people buy other stuff.

[GinGinD]

The best way to survive economic downtowns as well as personal emergencies (people do lose their jobs in non-recessed economies too!) is to live well below your means during the good times--save AND invest, and limit your use of credit. If you do these things when times are good, you wil be well prepared when they are bad.

Jeannie

[Janne]

I am the wrong person to have an opinion, but I believe that Credid Cards (+ companies) have a lot to answer for.
People with low incomes, people that would never get a bank loan, can get a C/c and go on a crazy shopping spree.
Some parts of th population does not understand how the interest rates etc work. Or do not want to know.


Yep, I have a C/c. Pay it off 100% every month, but get the Airmiles. Which I never use, as I never fly with an US airline. I must have enough AirMiles to buy Miami soon.

[watchman19]

The best way to survive economic downtowns as well as personal emergencies (people do lose their jobs in non-recessed economies too!) is to live well below your means during the good times--save AND invest, and limit your use of credit. If you do these things when times are good, you wil be well prepared when they are bad.

Jeannie

The only thing that I notice is credit is very expensive. It's not a good time to buy anything that requires credit, like a home or a car.

Well put could not have said it any better, this is exactly what my wife and I are doing. By following the simple steps above we are able to put some money away and move forward.

I also agree with Bola- credit is expensive now so it is wise to use it smart. If you cars are okay leave it alone, if you're looking to buy a house pay the debts off first. Bank no longer look at your score they are looking at your debt to income ratio. basically they want to know that no matter what you can encounter will you still be able to pay your mortgage.

[watchman19]

Many financial services professionals define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. That is six months right there. And then you have to add the time waiting for the figures to finalize before they officially call it. So by the time a recession is so named, we likely would have already been experiencing it for seven or eight months.

Economists don't throw out words like "recession" and "depression" lightly as even saying the words can cause a backlash in an already fragile economy.

We are not currently in a recession. The US economy is experiencing positive growth, albeit sluggish. Just because it feels like a recession, doesn't mean it is.

Jeannie

Sorry GinGin I hate to disagree but I think we have fallen back into a recession since fuel and food went up so we've been in it for about 1 or 2 months already, but we won't know we've been in it until Bernanke says it. When you walk into a Walmart on a Saturday at 1:00PM with 24 registers to choose from and only 6 out of the 24 are busy something is not right. No lines, no waiting parking lot is empty with say 20 cars not counting employees ya something is wrong. Again not to disagree you have strong valid points, I am just pointing out what I am seeing in North Jersey

[Janne]

I read somewhere that approx 40% of all food is wasted in the US.

If you see less people shopping food, maybe they throw away less.
I guess it is less in the European countries, as our food is considerably more expensive, but people there still waste lots.

If we go into leaner times, I expect people to eat less, so maybe the obesity problem wil diminish?? Wishful thinking maybe?


Another tip:

Old "stale" bread??
Make Bread and butter pudding of it.
Or, dry it, crumble it up, and you have Bread crumbs!

Do not forget that most canned food can last for decades. By law, it is stamped with a Best Before date, which is ridiculous.
Do not throw "expired" cans away.

[Janne]

Just a litle remark;
We all think that we live "richer" than our parents and grand parents.
We do not. We waste our money on electronics and other useless consumer products, but we forget to meet over a simple dinner, talk, discuss...
Or go to church/mosque/synanoguge, listen to some moral truths, and after that meet and talk....

Old times were maybe poor in consumtion, but rich in social interacting. I strongly believe that people lived fuller lives in the past.

[SnapIT]

I've read through this thread and have a general question for anyone living in the snow bound states... is your home up to scratch as far as insulation and energy saving lighting goes? Here in Australia the incandescent light globe has been banned from sale except for very specialized applications. So the compact floro light has come to rule the roost. Spending $$ on lighting when you can cut that part of the energy bill by +70% or more just makes good sense. The right insulation and window coverings will help cut down on heating bills. Its investing up front in your home with long term payback on running costs which will put dollars back in the budget as these forms of energy increase in price once carbon trading comes into place.

[lvt]

Stop buying watches