What are you doing to offset price increases?
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Tony Nitrous
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Same. I was working with the Toyota importer 4 years ago and got a very good deal on a brand little 4x2 Workmate ute. Base model 2.7 petrol, manual box, cab chassis. After 4 years use it’s had a set of tyres and wiper blades. It’s not amazing on fuel, but otherwise it’s a turn key and forget all weather runabout.
Here in Australia annual road tax isn’t cheap but it includes CTP (Compulsory Third Party) insurance, so every vehicle that’s legally on the road has some sort of cover for any licences driver. Unlike some other states here, Qld has a “Single Seat Rego” option. If a bike has no pillion seat or rear pegs you sign a form and the annual road tax drops considerably as there is no longer a pillion at risk. My B-King, Gen-1 Busa and GSX1400 are all registered as single seat bikes. I only keep 1 bike dual seat.
nintastio
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I was half joking with my response. You are correct, with the additional expenses of service costs on a motorcycle I'm not really saving much in the long run.
One benefit though is it costs me about $50/yr for licensing costs and $24/mo for full coverage. Little easier to balance costs that way.
I don't really have a social life, I work from home most days and when I do go to the office it's only 4 miles away so honestly gas prices don't really affect me much, but food prices sure do. That's what is hurting me more than anything.
I hear a lot of talk about high prices but the parking lots at the malls and grocery stores are completely full and nobody around here seems to be slowing down when it comes to driving, I hear them take off from a stop light and their foot is to the floor only to get the next stop light and jump on the brakes...
Lots of new toys around here when it comes to side by sides, boats and new vehicles...also construction is booming out of hand...they can't hire enough people to do all the work and waiting lists are miles long.
I know there are people hurting financially but I personally haven't seen it.
nintastio
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I live in an area where the average income is about 2.5x what I make. I rent from a friend for a very reasonable price or I wouldn't be able to afford to live anywhere near this area.
People around here act the same, no difference in daily habits except people are out and about even more than usual after all the covid stuff.
Better half was offered the option to return to work at the office and I told her no way. We’ll save that gas money. I have a very short commute and work vehicle gets a full tank once a month, so I’m good there. We have been driving her 4cyl. Car more and my Truck less. we like home made meals and don’t eat out much, but now do it even less; with meat prices I don’t BBQ for the family as much anymore; only the two of us at home so we were already doing groceries only twice a month and have cut some of the items that are not a true necessity; like @Tached1300 i started buying Costco’s ice cream in bulk and stopped going to coldstone creamery 
no cable for us, so just have the internet bill; I haven’t been to a clothing store in months. Don’t feel like I need to and saves money. 4th of July weekend vacation/road trip cancelled because the amount of fuel needed and airB&B cost for a couple of days stay didn’t make sense to us; We’ll probably go to the nearby beach one day this long weekend and eat out one night just so we don’t feel like we spent the weekend sitting at home.
no cable for us, so just have the internet bill; I haven’t been to a clothing store in months. Don’t feel like I need to and saves money. 4th of July weekend vacation/road trip cancelled because the amount of fuel needed and airB&B cost for a couple of days stay didn’t make sense to us; We’ll probably go to the nearby beach one day this long weekend and eat out one night just so we don’t feel like we spent the weekend sitting at home.
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Oh that is beautiful, jealous!
ottafish
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We’ve stopped buying non essential stuff in the food shopping days. Minimal treats now. More homebrand goods rather than the big names.
Heating down by 3-4 deg at the thermostat. Wearing heavier winter clothes inside.
Using public transport as much as possible.
Bike insurance has been moved to occasional riding
Internet and streaming services thinned. (Which has reverted us back to the old days of torrent hunting again)
Eating out limited to twice a month each now. We do once together and once with friends.
Heating down by 3-4 deg at the thermostat. Wearing heavier winter clothes inside.
Using public transport as much as possible.
Bike insurance has been moved to occasional riding
Internet and streaming services thinned. (Which has reverted us back to the old days of torrent hunting again)
Eating out limited to twice a month each now. We do once together and once with friends.
bigoltool
Registered
Started using Gas Buddy again! I always bought Gas at Costco before just because of the cash back, but man they are some of the most expensive gas around now. I live a fairly frugal life in general so not much has really changed. Just being more careful than usual I guess. Oh, and I haven't logged into my Vanguard account in 6 moths out of shear terror!!!
nintastio
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If you want to really do away with streaming services check out usenet. You can fully automate "things". I've been at it a long time, if you want to know more shoot me a PM. My server rack is too tall so I have things on a table for now, lol.
Zerks
Registered
The only problem with cash in the bank is it's only as good as the financial condition of the government whose currency you are using. Last I heard the FDIC was still a part of the federal government that claims to be 30 trillion in the hole with a rising interest rate and trillions more in under funded liabilities.... so... what is the alternative? You already know the answer to that issue.
Zerks
Registered
Reminds me of the sign... "Wife for Sale, Just take over payments"
When my wife has blown money we didn't agree on before she spent it I call it "financial infidelity".
If things don't get reconciled in some kind of agreeable way it doesn't take long for some people to file for divorce under the "irreconcilable differences" claim.
All my wife credit cards have become my credit cards to pay for a while now...
Completely agree that money in the bank isn't the best. We are doing most of the things that have been listed from others, just common sense actions. Having money in the bank is allowing us to go after larger purchases when we run across a deal (There are a lot of them out there). I have been buying used tractor implements as an example they will last for 50 years and I can use them to help offset cost for a long long time.
We are also buying in bulk and repacking in smaller portions...
Tony Nitrous
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Heating / reverse cycle aircon turned off.
The log burner warming the house.
Not ideal for the environment but a lot of other stuff I do is, and I’ve planted a lot more trees than I’ve burnt recently.
The log burner warming the house.
Not ideal for the environment but a lot of other stuff I do is, and I’ve planted a lot more trees than I’ve burnt recently.
Tony Nitrous
Registered
Thats something we are doing too. It was always part of our long term plan anyway but now it’s even more justified.
We designed the new house with a longer walk in pantry and brought a larger fridge freezer. Our thinking was we are much further from the shops now and will be growing more produce, but now being able to buy in bulk when the price is right is an extra benefit. The pantry, freezer, shopping all eat into our funds but we are starting to see benefits, also that we have good reserves and don’t run to the shops as often.
Martin.UK
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We have a 1937 bungalow.
When i refurbished it back in 2009 i put 120mm of insulation in all the floor, put batton on the inside of all the outer walls and added 50mm of insulation to all the outside walls. We have 9ft high ceilings, so i dropped them 18" and put 80mm insulation between the new & old ceilings. I have also put 12" of rockwool in the attic. Our windows lose the most heat, But heavy curtins help with that. We only need to put the heathing on for 15 mins each day in the winter. We leave all the room doors open so the whole home is warm. We have a very low gas bill. As for Electric, I have put timers on most things. I find it's our CCTV system that uses the most as we have 9 cameras recording 24/7.
When i refurbished it back in 2009 i put 120mm of insulation in all the floor, put batton on the inside of all the outer walls and added 50mm of insulation to all the outside walls. We have 9ft high ceilings, so i dropped them 18" and put 80mm insulation between the new & old ceilings. I have also put 12" of rockwool in the attic. Our windows lose the most heat, But heavy curtins help with that. We only need to put the heathing on for 15 mins each day in the winter. We leave all the room doors open so the whole home is warm. We have a very low gas bill. As for Electric, I have put timers on most things. I find it's our CCTV system that uses the most as we have 9 cameras recording 24/7.
Tony Nitrous
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I have been living in an old timber cottage on stumps in the local town. The weather has been down to near freezing recently and it was awful. Even with a few heaters on it was never really “warm” and the temps dropped dramatically if you turned the heaters off. A cheap rental whilst we built so little I could do.
Last Friday we moved into our own place. Brick outer walls, insulation in the walls, insulation in the loft, insulation under the roof sheets. The two buildings are 2 miles apart, but you’d think they were 2000 from the temperature inside them.
As you obviously know, the insulation and design make a huge difference.
I insulated my garage a few years ago and even though it has 12' ceilings, you can heat it with a ceramic furnace about the size of a toaster even at -40'C as long as you don't open the big door that is...then it takes time to recover...I'm probably going to put a natural gas heater in it eventually.
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