How has your spending shifted?

[nidena]

In light of events since early to mid-March, have you found yourself spending in other areas than you did before?

I've found that I've started buying from Imperfect Foods as a way to reduce the amount of time I spend in a regular grocery store.  I'm also not buying any clothes because...where would I wear them?  lol

How about y'all?

[laterbloomer]

It's really helped me cut my spending. But that's about it so far. We will see what it does to my travel budget as time gos on.
Oh I did dye my own hair this week, so that saved about $150

[haapai]

My cash outflows have been greatly reduced.  Everything is closed or by appointment only.  It's pretty much down to my mortgage, utilities, food, automobile insurance and a smattering of gas.  I've been quite successful at not finding ways to shop on the internet, although I did splurge on a NYT subscription (very cheap for the first year) and I'm considering subscribing to a few more. 

On the sadder side, I've recently decreased my 401(k) contributions to the minimum required to get the maximum employer contribution.   I'd held off doing that for as long as I could but it has become apparent to me that I may have to take multiple medical leaves from work in the next two years even if I do not get sick myself and that getting paid for COVID leave is tricky.   I'll sleep a lot better with a well-padded EF. 

This is going to be a rough two years. 

[msventoux]

I had a semi new freezer in the garage that didn’t have a lot in it, so I spent more than normal filling it up with various types of meats and treats. I’m buying more cleaning supplies. I’m not doing any grocery shopping in the store and have not done grocery pick up in weeks; I’m avoiding shopping and am eating through my pantry and freezer. I’m not going anywhere other than work, so my fuel bill is down. I still have to go to work, so my utilities are the same as usual.

I think my job is relatively secure for the moment, but our economy relies heavily on tourism and the oil and gas industry so things are likely to get really ugly. So I’m hoarding cash. I’m far less likely to do impulse shopping online now. I’m not trying to aggressively pay down my mortgage anymore. I’m still going to max out my retirement plans though it is painful to do so after seeing how much is gone.

[alabamagal]

I feel fortunate that my family and extended family are doing well financially in the midst of this crisis.

For DH and I, his part time job has gone away, but that was only 5 % of our income. Our expenses have gone down mainly in eating out. Gas bill (never a huge part of our budget) has gone down with DH (not driving Uber) and my job 25-50% work from home. I fill up my 11 gallon gas tank every 3 weeks and other 2 vehicles have been used less than 20 miles in last month. Food spending has gone up, but primarily because we have an extra adult plus 2 yo staying here for the past month plus at least one month more. We have not increased other spending, and have had other expenses go away.

My job in pharma manufacturing is going full speed, plus the whole industry in US will expand due to move away from Chinese manufacturing.

[Blonde Granny]

My normal monthly spending for restaurants was $110. That was eating out after choir practice on Wednesdays and after church on Sundays. Since that is no longer happening, YNAB shows a total of $30 so far this month.

OTOH, since I bought a new sewing machine and had no longer had any quilting equipment, I've really gone over for the month on those purchases. oh well....Since I can't go to the VA twice a week, no choir practice etc. I had to have something to occupy the lonely & silent times I spend in this house.

Other normal monthly spending has fallen though the floor and there is simply nothing to spend money on when I don't leave the house.  My monthly everyday spending is normally around  $500 or so, this month so far it's $235.00

[Deleted]

I would say spending is up because I continue to spend on the house.  I have done so much that the painter asked if I was planning to put the house on the market or something.

I'm not, but I am trying to do the type of projects that would have to get done if I decide to do that in the future.

[chiver78]

my spending has been cut dramatically with all of this. I'll edit this if I think of more.

savings on daily commute - I am not spending either $4 or $9 daily to park my car, depending on which form of public transportation I choose for the day. add gas and more frequent oil changes, as well. I'm not spending $2 on coffee at the market, $2 on a breakfast sandwich, $3 for a bowl of soup, and $10 for a glass of wine at South Station on my way home.

savings on bars/restaurants - everything is closed, and I have gotten takeout exactly once. I am also not spending much on groceries as I've worked through my freezer stash so I don't have to move it this weekend. I'll be dropping a bit to stock up when I get to the next place, but 🤷‍♀️

pups - I haven't been paying for a daily walker, but I have put them in daycare at $50/day for two pups, on days that it was raining sideways.

packy - this ticked up a bit. counters the savings on bars/restaurants, but still lighter in cost.

[wvugurl26]

Our spending on the house is way up. The amounts we are spending on gas, eating out and travel are way down. It probably balances out. Most of it is work we've wanted to do but lacked the time to get it done.

[resolution]

My spending is up, but I don't mind.  I have always gotten a measure of security by saving an emergency fund, but in a situation where my money may not always supply what I need I have been spending extra on staples.  

I spent around $200 extra on cat food/litter and about $100 on a case of industrial toilet paper (the hotel stuff) so that I would stop making myself anxious watching my supplies go down. I have also stocked up on things like hot dogs and bacon, which we are using as substitutes for going out to breakfast and lunches on the weekends. I am ordering groceries and buying more name brand food because the generic has been out of stock.

We used to spend $300-$400 per month on restaurants and that has completely stopped, but I have been donating the savings to local food banks and the shelter so we aren't seeing any real savings there. 

I'm not thrilled about our extra spending, but I have been saving for an emergency my entire adult life, and I think this qualifies as some kind of national emergency.

[buystoys]

Our spending so far has been about the same as we are both at home all the time.  We will be spending a bundle more when the kitchen remodel begins but that was budgeted for.  YTD on my budget we are $700 over but we just replaced the AC at the rental.  If not for that, we would be $4000 under.  We didn't spend as much on our vacation as budgeted and our gas usage has been down.  I went on Medicare in February and that created the bulk of the savings.  I hadn't budgeted that event until September, so we'll have some surplus this year to begin with.  It's a big enough change that I'll probably revise the budget for May forward.

[justme]

I'm mostly saving a fair bit. I've been home for a bit over a month - filled up my tank on the 17th of March and when I topped it off yesterday I had used less than half a tank. I usually go through a tank in a little more than a week unless I have a lot of plans on the weekend. No going out to bars or restaurants. No concerts or other events. No trips to Disney. 

I have spent a fair bit more on food than I normally do, but a huge chunk of that was buying now for food I'll be eating for a while. I bulk bought meat from Costco and pre-cooked meals more than I normally do. I have probably over 30 meals individually portioned in my freezer. Without the commute I'm eating more rounded meals so eating a bit more veg than normal. I went 2.5 weeks between my last shopping run. I'll likely go more like 3 for my next one unless I get a hankering for fresh veggies before then. 

This all was pretty decent timing for me as I had to spend half my savings on my condo assessment (though now I'm REALLY glad I don't have an extra $200 bill right now) so being able to pad my savings will be nice. Though I have a 2 week furlough coming up so I'm going to miss a paycheck at the end of May.

[Deleted]

Entertainment spending including restaurants, bars and sporting events is down 80% from last year for me in March/April.  I'm pretty much in cash hoarding mode for the foreseeable future.  I have taken this as an opportunity to lower expenditures, I bought a router so I could return the rented one to the cable company, this will pay for itself in 7 months.  I also moved from Verizon to Xfinity mobile at an almost 50% reduction, Xfinity is on Verizon's network anyway so I should have done this a long time ago.

Considering selling my 4 year old car and getting a new one that is a lower priced model that I can probably get for the sales price of my current one.  I doubt I do this, just in the consideration stage.

[bean29]

Our spending is pretty much the same - we didn't eat out a lot to begin with. Both of us are still working. We still have one kid in college, and her job is gone for at least a year. She is ok rn b/c she got the 1200 stimulus $$. DH is getting his car repaired, but that is from someone rear-ending him, so I don't think we have to pay anything.

DH is working on our rental - nearly done...his brother will then move from my MIL's rental to ours, and they will work on MIL's rental for sale. DH will probably pay for any needed repairs, but I think he is just anticipating that it needs paint.  So not a lot of $$ going out there.

I have been shopping on-line - but that is normal.  My spending is probably down.  I just bought 4 pairs of shoes from DSW for $142- one will definitely go back as I ordered one pair in 2 sizes.  They have 40% off on clearance - so pretty good deals.  I also bought some clothing from White House Black Market.  I got most of it at about 50% off. 

In a few weeks we will start working on the yard.  buying perenials.  In fall we had planned to redo the front walk.  We will probably go ahead with it, but we will see if we can get anyone to do the work.  We also considered replacing front door and a few windows. 

[daisylu]

We were homebodies before this (no bars, restaurant meals maybe 2/month), so our spending has actually gone up. Maybe not, since we have saved on sporting events (I like to get to the ballpark at least once a month ).

Mostly because I have spent so much money on groceries and home products. We live 20 miles from a grocery store, so we have always had about a month worth of these items (except fresh fruits and veggies) in the house - with me stopping a day or 2 during the week for any special wants or restocks. The stores around here are STILL out of or extremely limited on a LOT of items - cleaners, tp, paper towels, canned goods, pasta, and some meats. So when I see something that we use regularly, I just grab it.

[Deleted]

The grocery bill has gone up, because I buy whatever is available.  The eating out budget is now $0.  Those seem to net to a $200 a month savings, but I just sent that money to the local food bank, so nothing saved there.  We never spent much on gas, so there is little savings there.  The big one for us is travel, that was a $600 a month line item that has been gone since January.  Car insurance is supposedly dropping for a couple of months.  Otherwise no haircuts or mindless shopping.  

The kid has also cost us less.  Without school, there is the constant drip of expenses.  

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 2:22:10 GMT -5 haapai said:

My cash outflows have been greatly reduced.  Everything is closed or by appointment only.  It's pretty much down to my mortgage, utilities, food, automobile insurance and a smattering of gas.  I've been quite successful at not finding ways to shop on the internet, although I did splurge on a NYT subscription (very cheap for the first year) and I'm considering subscribing to a few more. 

On the sadder side, I've recently decreased my 401(k) contributions to the minimum required to get the maximum employer contribution.   I'd held off doing that for as long as I could but it has become apparent to me that I may have to take multiple medical leaves from work in the next two years even if I do not get sick myself and that getting paid for COVID leave is tricky.   I'll sleep a lot better with a well-padded EF. 

This is going to be a rough two years. 

I put in a few magazine subscriptions myself: The Economist and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.  I find that I read them and then I read my People or O magazine as "fluff"--light reading to make the other stuff less heavy.

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 7:13:27 GMT -5 @bamafan1954 said:

I would say spending is up because I continue to spend on the house.  I have done so much that the painter asked if I was planning to put the house on the market or something.

I'm not, but I am trying to do the type of projects that would have to get done if I decide to do that in the future.

I chuckled at that first part.

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 7:35:33 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Our spending on the house is way up. The amounts we are spending on gas, eating out and travel are way down. It probably balances out. Most of it is work we've wanted to do but lacked the time to get it done.

I think I last bought gas around March 10th.

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 8:21:06 GMT -5 resolution said:

My spending is up, but I don't mind.  I have always gotten a measure of security by saving an emergency fund, but in a situation where my money may not always supply what I need I have been spending extra on staples.  

I spent around $200 extra on cat food/litter and about $100 on a case of industrial toilet paper (the hotel stuff) so that I would stop making myself anxious watching my supplies go down. I have also stocked up on things like hot dogs and bacon, which we are using as substitutes for going out to breakfast and lunches on the weekends. I am ordering groceries and buying more name brand food because the generic has been out of stock.

We used to spend $300-$400 per month on restaurants and that has completely stopped, but I have been donating the savings to local food banks and the shelter so we aren't seeing any real savings there. 

I'm not thrilled about our extra spending, but I have been saving for an emergency my entire adult life, and I think this qualifies as some kind of national emergency.

I have autoship set up with Chewy.com for cat stuff.  It's worked out well so far but it's been only one shipment, each, of litter, kibble, and pureed pumpkin.  I get their wetfood from Koha.com.

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 10:30:48 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Our spending is pretty much the same - we didn't eat out a lot to begin with. Both of us are still working. We still have one kid in college, and her job is gone for at least a year. She is ok rn b/c she got the 1200 stimulus $$. DH is getting his car repaired, but that is from someone rear-ending him, so I don't think we have to pay anything.

DH is working on our rental - nearly done...his brother will then move from my MIL's rental to ours, and they will work on MIL's rental for sale. DH will probably pay for any needed repairs, but I think he is just anticipating that it needs paint.  So not a lot of $$ going out there.

I have been shopping on-line - but that is normal.  My spending is probably down.  I just bought 4 pairs of shoes from DSW for $142- one will definitely go back as I ordered one pair in 2 sizes.  They have 40% off on clearance - so pretty good deals.  I also bought some clothing from White House Black Market.  I got most of it at about 50% off. 

In a few weeks we will start working on the yard.  buying perenials.  In fall we had planned to redo the front walk.  We will probably go ahead with it, but we will see if we can get anyone to do the work.  We also considered replacing front door and a few windows. 

I bought some stuff from WHBM, too, but that was because I got a job there and had purged all my black clothes since the last time I worked with the company back in August (in a different state).  They seem to be running out of a lot of common items.

[TheOtherMe]

I had a Chewy order ship today.  It shipped late.  I use autoship.  Supposedly autoship orders get priority.  

I already have a month's supply of cat food on hand and I can buy the litter I use at the grocery store if need be.  I don't buy it at Chewy because they sell it in 40 pound bags/boxes and I can't handle 40 pounds

[nidena]

Apr 22, 2020 11:55:03 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I had a Chewy order ship today.  It shipped late.  I use autoship.  Supposedly autoship orders get priority.  

I already have a month's supply of cat food on hand and I can buy the litter I use at the grocery store if need be.  I don't buy it at Chewy because they sell it in 40 pound bags/boxes and I can't handle 40 pounds

You can go on there and have them "Ship Now" for your autoship orders.  Like, if the autoship is in two weeks, do the SN option, and it should ship closer to the correct date.

[TheOtherMe]

Apr 22, 2020 12:05:50 GMT -5 nidena said:

Apr 22, 2020 11:55:03 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I had a Chewy order ship today.  It shipped late.  I use autoship.  Supposedly autoship orders get priority.  

I already have a month's supply of cat food on hand and I can buy the litter I use at the grocery store if need be.  I don't buy it at Chewy because they sell it in 40 pound bags/boxes and I can't handle 40 pounds

You can go on there and have them "Ship Now" for your autoship orders.  Like, if the autoship is in two weeks, do the SN option, and it should ship closer to the correct date.

As I said, it isn't a problem as I already have a month's supply of cat food on hand.  Yes, I can have them ship the next autoship now, but why would I do that when I will soon have 2 month's supply of cat food on hand?

[vetswife]

I haven't spent on gas since early March; drive the car once a week to DD's house for a socially distanced back yard meal.  I could walk down there but figure the car needs to be driven once a week anyway.  Otherwise, it's just the basic things that I usually spend on so far.  

[Gardening Grandma]

We are spending much less on gas, of course. Also less on groceries since I am now menu planning for  two weeks out.
About the same on eating out as we’ve decided to support our local restaurants by buying take out weekly (and heavily tipping).

Spending less overall.  The one exception is I am spending more on fabric, sewing machine needles, elastic and other supplies as I am sewing face masks to donate to our community face mask effort.

[bean29]

Apr 22, 2020 11:51:58 GMT -5 nidena said:

Apr 22, 2020 10:30:48 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Our spending is pretty much the same - we didn't eat out a lot to begin with. Both of us are still working. We still have one kid in college, and her job is gone for at least a year. She is ok rn b/c she got the 1200 stimulus $$. DH is getting his car repaired, but that is from someone rear-ending him, so I don't think we have to pay anything.

DH is working on our rental - nearly done...his brother will then move from my MIL's rental to ours, and they will work on MIL's rental for sale. DH will probably pay for any needed repairs, but I think he is just anticipating that it needs paint.  So not a lot of $$ going out there.

I have been shopping on-line - but that is normal.  My spending is probably down.  I just bought 4 pairs of shoes from DSW for $142- one will definitely go back as I ordered one pair in 2 sizes.  They have 40% off on clearance - so pretty good deals.  I also bought some clothing from White House Black Market.  I got most of it at about 50% off. 

In a few weeks we will start working on the yard.  buying perenials.  In fall we had planned to redo the front walk.  We will probably go ahead with it, but we will see if we can get anyone to do the work.  We also considered replacing front door and a few windows. 

I bought some stuff from WHBM, too, but that was because I got a job there and had purged all my black clothes since the last time I worked with the company back in August (in a different state).  They seem to be running out of a lot of common items.

Are the stores open in your state?  They are closed here, but may be open seen depending on the results of the Republican Lawsuit to reopen the state. 

[justme]

Ha! Apparently my grocery spending is a bit up. Some of it is from bulk buying. Like I bought 2 dozen more of eggs even though I still have about a dozen left. I usually don't have that much in my fridge, but I also usually grocery shop a few times a week instead of once every 2+ weeks I'm doing now. It'll lower money spent in the months going forward though since I won't have to buy chicken for a long ass time. 

[nidena]

Apr 23, 2020 10:40:15 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Apr 22, 2020 11:51:58 GMT -5 nidena said:

I bought some stuff from WHBM, too, but that was because I got a job there and had purged all my black clothes since the last time I worked with the company back in August (in a different state).  They seem to be running out of a lot of common items.

Are the stores open in your state?  They are closed here, but may be open seen depending on the results of the Republican Lawsuit to reopen the state. 

No, we closed on Mar 18th.  I ordered online a few days after that, through our store link so that our specific store got credit for the sales.

[andi9899]

My spending on gas and meals out has dropped significantly. My new online shopping habit has picked up that savings though.