How do you downgrade your lifestyle? I think it’s much harder to downgrade a lifestyle than to upgrade it.
Hence why I think I’m finding it so difficult to go back living like a student. This is why I enjoy spending $75-100/week on food. Whereas previously we could survive on $25/week and there were few complaints. Granted food was a lot cheaper 6-7 years ago, but still $25/week didn’t buy much.
We never bought meat, except ground beef for a special treat. We didn’t eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies, again special occasions or great sales. We ate a lot of cheaper, unhealthy foods. We ate a lot of processed foods like hamburger helper, mac and cheese, pasta, etc. So now the thought going back to that lifestyle feels like nails on a chalkboard.
What else? Well cable, we never had tivo, extra channels, or even an extra cable box. We had minimum cable or no cable channels. We always had cable interet or DSL, which made sense for downloading papers, work, etc.
Another upgrade was having cell phones. For a long time DH didn’t have a cell phone and I had a cheap plan to just call home. We cetainly didn’t have a family plan until a few years ago. Now it’s part of the lifestyle.
All these upgrades in lifestyle, it’s funny how it’s so easy to enjoy a better life, but difficult to let go of it. I wonder if this is what causes perhaps credit card debt? People having an expectation of a “lifestyle” then losing a job or having a financial issue. Then being unable to maintain their current lifestyle they turn to credit cards to supplement their finances.
Could you downgrade your lifestyle? Personally I think it would be really hard for us, but if absolutely necessary I could start doing it.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Mom // Mar 23, 2008 at 9:03 pm
When I had my daughter I had a huge downgrade in living standards. It was really hard. I don’t think I could go back to eating pancakes for breakfast lunch and dinner again.
2 minimum wage // Mar 24, 2008 at 2:19 am
Downgrading is much easier when it is very gradual.
For example, my wages have remained fairly level for many years. This means I have been losing purchasing power due to inflation at the rate of perhaps 0-3 percent per year (it varies from year to year, I might get a small raise one year and a rent increase the next year).
So there is a slow decline in living standards but never a sudden shock.
3 MEG // Mar 24, 2008 at 3:58 am
In college all my part time income was discretionary, since my housing and food was paid in advance. I had $600 a month that I could use purely for shopping, eating out, drinking, travel. My dad warned me repeatedly not to get used to an inflated lifestyle and that I may never again have so much “blow” money every month. I knew he was right. It was really tough getting used to a real budget when I graduated. My income went way up, but so did my bills/obligations.
I’m at the point now where I’m pretty much living like I did in college again, eating out regularly, shopping occasionally, and enjoying unnecessary luxuries such as TiVo and trips to the gourmet grocery. It would be pretty hard to downgrade. It’s amazing how luxuries quickly become necessities.
Also, I think it’s much harder to downgrade from bigger things like cars and houses. I could lose the little luxuries pretty easily, but I’d have a really hard time trading my nice newish car for an old beater or moving to a much less desirable neighborhood. Those sorts of major downgrades - as well as taking a less prestigious job or pulling your kids out of private school - say more about who you are in the world and can illicit feelings of failure and an identity crisis (as materialistic as that might be).
4 frugal zeitgeist // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:21 am
Having a goal in mind helps, I think. If the downgrading is in response to external constraints (like inflation) without a goal to work towards, I find it much harder.
5 Living Almost Large // Mar 24, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Definitely downgrading due to the economy is occurring.
7 Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:44 am
I’ve downgraded a bit and have actually enjoyed it. Mostly, I cut back on shopping. It’s amazing not just how much money that can cost, but also time.
I’ve also cut back my grocery bill — a lot. I used to spend about $150 a week for two people. Now we spend about $15 -$75, which still a lot of that going to splurges like my fancy dark chocolate and his coke and steak. But what I find interesting is what you said about eating so much processed stuff. I know it seems cheap and I’ve had a lot of friends eat that way trying to save money. However, it is very easy to eat healthy for cheap.
The main thing I try to remember when I go grocery shopping is to think in terms of single ingredient items. You end up paying a lot for packaging, processing, cutting, mixing, etc. Like fruit with your oatmeal? Get the oatmeal in bulk and supplement with fresh or frozen fruit. Like mac and cheese? Get the cheese and pasta separately (or even make the pasta yourself if you can — something that I admit that I haven’t done yet). And of course, always buy generic when possible, check unit prices, buy fruits and veggies on sale or at a produce stand, and cut coupons when applicable (though I find that they rarely are when you buy stuff like generic carrots).
Here’s some things to look for:
For the bulk of your meals, look for the big bags of rice (especially brown), beans, lentils, peas, etc. Get the generics and they’re dirt cheap. Then head over to the produce area and get some veggies. Potatoes, onions, and carrots are usually super cheap. Supplement that with whatever is on sale, but keeping unit prices in mind. I like to eat lots of eggplant when it’s on sale.
Sure, beans and potatoes sound bland, but don’t be afraid to get some good seasonings (though good doesn’t necessarily mean expensive). Get some olive oil for cold stuff, some peanut oil for high temp cooking, some balsamic vinegar, and some other seasonings (though not pre-mixed if you want to save money), and maybe some nuts or meat. Grab some bananas on sale as a cheap snack and freeze what you don’t eat to cook into oatmeal or fry up with flour into some bananas fritters (along with any other things you can make into fritters).
Another thing… make your own hummus to eat with flat bread or carrots. It’s soooo much cheaper to make yourself and really easy, too.
Oh, and try to just drink water whenever possible. Treat yourself to some tea, but get the loose leaf type since even the gourmet varieties tend to be cheaper than the worst bagged tea.
Anyhow, I’m sure you get the idea.
8 Livingalmostlarge // Apr 17, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I don’t drink tea, only water. I do cook mostly from scratch. BUT what I’ve learned coupon shopping and saving a TON of money on toiletries and Health and Beauty, is that coupons are mostly out there for processed foods.
And they make the processed foods FREE. If I were broke again, I’d be eating it with coupons because you can get boxes of mac and cheese free, boxes of sugar cereals free, boxes of hamburger helper, fruit rollups, tv dinners ALL free. With sales, coupons, and $ back from your next order, you can easily roll a couple of buck into A LOT of food. NOT food I would consider eating or quality food, but food.
I use coupons and got most of my oatmeal free. I have used coupons and occasionally buy DH free cereal (not often because I don’t want him to want sweets). Or I can get free chips but I don’t. Or just free junk food like cookies, snack mix, etc.
If you read Hotcouponworld, they have great tips for buying all those foods free. And they’ll tell you it’s not the greatest food but if you want to eat a family of 4 for $10/week you can!
So no way does eating non-processed foods ever come out cheaper. Coupon shopping for processed foods rule.
9 Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances // Apr 17, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Well, if you want to compare apples to apples…
No, there may not be anything cheaper than free. However, there are also a lot of ways to get free or nearly free fresh produce if free is your budget. For example, I have the start of a veggie garden which I’m populating with free seedlings from neighbors and family (I know not everyone can grow stuff where they live, but neither does everyone have grocery stores that double coupons nearby). Plus, many people take advantage of the fact that grocery stores throw out lots of free produce because it doesn’t look quite perfect enough for picky consumers.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone should go dumpster diving. I haven’t because I feel no need to. However, if it came down to eating mostly processed foods or eating a good diet by dumspter diving, I’d dumpster in a heart beat because I have seen the long term costs of a diet of “cheap” processed foods. I grew up in a very poor county where that was typical fare and have seen what it has done to my family and friends and I can tell you that the end result is not cheap, whether you measure it in dollars or years or quality of life.
So… um… yeah… coupon shopping for processed foods certainly does not rule.
10 Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:28 pm
And how could I forget…
Also more or less free sources of fresh food:
Hunting
Fishing
Foraging
Even in the wilds of suburbia, you can find a lot of free stuff to forage that can at least supplement the processed stuff. I’ve started reading http://www.eattheweeds.com and I’m really impressed by how much of the stuff in my own yard is edible, i.e. beyond what I’ve put there intentionally.
11 Livingalmostlarge // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I know every coupon shopper will tell you they can eat for free or close to free. And I completely agree it is bad for you processed foods.
Also living in a condo, it can be difficult to grow food. Plus I’ve looked for old food and asked for it where I live, but was told they do not allow people to buy it cheap.
I’ve gone and still do dumpster dive. I have no shame about it. But having been broke before (not poor), it really is cheaper to use coupons to shop and “buy” food. You can live not well on mac and cheese and hamburger helper. Or others beans and rice. Or canned goods.
12 Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances // Apr 18, 2008 at 2:01 am
What a shame it is that there isn’t more help for those of us who want to eat well! It can certainly be tough, and I know I’m very lucky to be where I have a choice.
And no, I certainly don’t think there is anything shameful about dumpster diving. I’ve done a bit of it myself at apartment dumpsters around move-out time, though not yet for food. Who knows, though. Perhaps I’ll give it a shot. I’m already getting back into foraging (”back into” since I did try a few things as a kid).
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