sacrifices

[miclason]

In my quest to become debt-free, I have had to re-arrange my life...some "sacrifices" were tougher than others (none was easy at the time I made the decision, although nowadays I don't even feel some of them, others still hurt....)

Here's my list:
Vogue subscription
cable TV
switching cell phones (losing the phone # I had had for ~7 years hurt! but it was worth it!! )
moving in with my sister (somedays, I still dream of the days when my daughter and I lived alone!!- and I know my daughter does, too!)
new wardrobe 2x year
Xmas gifts for ALL my loved ones!
Going to the movies 1x month
Going out for lunch 1x week with DD (fast food)
Going out for lunch with my friends 1x week ("real" restaurants!)
Cutting ballet classes for DD
Cutting painting lessons for DD
Gyvenchy makeup (replaced 2x a year!)
Sebastian's hair care
Having my hair dyed/styled, a facial, mani and pedicure, 1x 6 weeks
Cutting grocery bill by $30 (no "goodies", less fish, generic vs brands, etc)

Of these, the ones that REALLY hurt are the classes for DD, and the haircare, my hair used to be soooo beautiful!!...oh, and the seafood!...we used to have fish once a week, shrimp once every two weeks....now it's fish once a month, and shrimp is almost unheard of (unless it's someone's b-day!)...

How about you? What have you given up? Which things do you REALLY miss??

[Snoopy2645]

Re: sacrifices

I know I made sacarafices to become a sahm & to become debt free mine are

1. quit getting my hair done I only get it chopped once in a blue moon for about $10 & now I will have a friend do it for free

2. took kids out of gymnastics

3. no going out with friends everyweekend

4. I cut xmas & bdays to the bare minimum I try to only get free things for gifts now

5. I only clearnace shop end of season & now garage sale alot too my clothes have to last me years.

[Russell]

Re: sacrifices

My biggest sacrafice and the one that hurt a lot was giving up car racing...its an expensive hobby. I also want to watch my daugther through her growing years by keeping my chances of survival higher

I hope in the future I can get back into it when I'm rich - there are other small things that really don't bug me much at all.

[Bluezy]

Re: sacrifices

My sacrifices (that aren't really sacrifices at all) are as follows:

1) I ceased to eat out (also cutting my cholestrol level)

2) Stopped manicures and pedicures in a salon

3) Started my Juno dial up for $9.95 per month

4) Started my Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go cell phone

5) Used coupons for everything

6) Closed all banking accounts that did not pay at least 3% interest

Nothing here bothers me in the least. Especially when I also cut spending to the point that I was able to pay off all credit card debt.

[jmjj215]

Re: sacrifices

Fancy dates with the wife. We didn't give it up. We've never been able to do it. But we will eventually!

[niki_the_tiger]

Re: sacrifices

Things we have given up:

1. Satellite TV (I do miss HGTV and the Food Network, but the rest I didn't care for all that much, besides my mother tapes some shows for me hehe)
2. Eating out whenever and wherever
3. Having drinks and desserts out
4. Soon: Selling our 1998 Jeep Cherokee... it was our "newest" vehicle we'd ever purchased, even though it's 6 years old, but debt is still debt, so we want to sell it to pay off the loan, then save up and buy something cheaper (hubby does need towing vehicle for his business)
5. Putting off renovations and living in torn apart rooms until we can pay off debt and save enough to use cash
6. leaving the heat at 55*F and wearing sweaters and using blankets instead
7. get books at the library instead of buying them (i prefer owning them)
8. no movie theatre unless it is an absolutely-must-see-in-theatre movie and few rentals... try to borrow movies from friends or rewatch ones we own already
9. no long car rides without good reason (this one is hard cuz we love going for rides. thankfully my hubby's business sometimes requires roadtrips... that are paid for woohoo - e.g. we just came back from MD, which was 22 hours of driving there and back).
That's all i can think of right now. We thought of getting rid of high speed internet and going back to dial up, but I think we only pay $24.99 or $29.99 something like that and we both use it to make money (hubby's websites and car business and my ebay business and freelance writing).

[TBH]

Re: sacrifices

The biggest thing we gave up was living in our old neighborhood, which we loved. Close to everything, great restaurants, fun people, very diverse, etc. Moved to the edge of the city, not very diverse, need a car to get around, etc.

Other things we've given up:
Spouse gave up membership at aikido dojo
More thrift store shopping, very occasionally buy new clothes but rarely
Less travelling--haven't visited brother and family in Germany for almost 3 years.
Sold car and bought something cheaper
Eliminated comprehensive coverage on car
No book buying; library only
Much less eating at restaurants