Let me start off by reassuring my readers that hubby and I are currently not in any danger of starving nor losing our home.  We’re somehow still able to buy groceries and, with a little help from local government, meet our utility and other bills.

But things are tight, and getting tighter day by day.  Everyone I know is in the same, or similar, boat.  Prices keep rising, but income doesn’t.  We’ve all (or at least most of us) had to cut back on everything, including essentials at times.  We’ve had to substitute lesser products for those we really want, and have had to totally eliminate products and services that aren’t truly neccesary to sustain life as we know it.

After my bad fall and other medical issues which affected my mobility, my husband took over the grocery shopping.  So, I haven’t really paid much attention to the prices of eggs, toilet paper, etc. – until I discovered a recent receipt from the grocery store.

Yikes!

I’m so glad my kids are all grown and on their own.  I don’t know how families survive these days.

As for me, here are some things I’ve had to give up over the last year or so:

Bacon.  I love bacon, but I prefer the low-sodium version, and when the price climbed to $9.99 per pound, I simply couldn’t justify it.  So, on the rare occasions we can afford to order out, I usually add bacon – whether it’s on pizza or a sub, just so long as I can get that flavor once in while.

Wine.  I used to enjoy a glass of wine in the evening, and I still would if only I could justify the cost.  But it seems I can either buy a bottle of wine or a multipack of toilet paper.  I have ulcerative colitis, so the choice is obvious.

Fresh meat, chicken, or fish.  I can stretch that budget so much better if I don’t have to pay the exorbitant prices for these items.  How can I justify $9.00 for half a pound of haddock or cod, when I can only get one meal out of it?  Fortunately, I can still afford rotisserie chicken – it runs about $7.99 for a whole chicken, and I can get four or more meals out of it.  And on rare occasions, I can manage the cost of two pounds of hamburger to make meatloaf – which turns into quite a few meals and sandwiches.

Fresh fruit.  I used to buy fresh strawberries, but the price became unreasonable and the fruit seemed to spoil more quickly than previously, so that’s been removed from the shopping list.  Even apples have become overpriced – which is fine by me, because I’m not a big apple fan anyway.

Eating at a restaurant or ordering takeout.  Who can afford restaurants these days?  Certainly not me, not even fast food like McDonald’s or Burger King.  Having said that, let me add that we do occasionally (like maybe once every two months) manage to save enough to order from our favorite Italian restaurant.  The portions there are huge – I can easily get four servings out of one of their meals, so I  figure the cost can be justified in view of being able to get better tasting, fresher, and more nutritious food.  On even rarer occasions, we sometimes manage pizza or subs – but those are purely a treat since they each only provide two meals at most.

Entertainment.  If it’s fun but costs money, we don’t do it.  No movies, plays, museums, zoos; no Netflix or other paid subscriptions; no raffles or lottery tickets.

Road trips, anywhere.  Okay, so this isn’t that big an issue because we never go anywhere anyway, except for medical appointments and errands.  But were I so inclined, I would definitely have to think hard and long about spending money on additional gas and accommodations just because I felt like it.

Looking for a new home.  Not to upset my wonderful neighbors who might read this, but as hubby and I get older, it’s becoming harder to maintain our home.  He still does all the work, including lawn mowing and snow removal, and trust me, that’s not easy.  We discussed hiring someone, but can’t afford it.  No way can we justify over $1,000 for a winter contract when we have so many other expenses.  We’ll just have to take our chances and hope that if we get hit with a storm my husband can’t handle, we’ll be able to find someone to do a one-time snow removal.  In any event, I have been reviewing the local real estate market for affordable apartments – and there simply aren’t any.  Even units in traditionally “bad” areas of town are renting for more than I pay for the monthly mortgage.  So I guess we’ll be staying in place for now.

Christmas.  We stopped gift-giving last year, and that’s not changing.  There’s simply no room in the budget for gifts to anyone, not even our own children.  They understand and agree – their budgets aren’t great these days either.  We will (hopefully) manage to get together for a big family meal, and that will  be our gift to each other.

So, as I said, things are tight – but they could be so much worse.  We could be idling our cars in a half-mile-long foodbank line like those folks in West Virginia.  But we’re not (yet). 

We’re fortunate that we have a little (very little) in savings, but enough that when our washing machine died this week, the stress of paying for a replacement didn’t cause either of us a heart attack.  (It helped that the machine had the courtesy of dying on a holiday weekend when the store was having a big sale.)

We’re fortunate that when we purchased our current home, we did so knowing we would have to make the mortgage payments well into our retirement years, and while we probably could have afforded a bigger, nicer house, we stayed within a lower price range and a subsequently lower mortgage payment.  We’re fortunate that we both managed to buy new vehicles during our last year of work, and while we will, of course, have to pay for things like tires and brakes etc., at least we can expect those vehicles to last until we can no longer drive.

And, of course, we’re fortunate that we’ve withstood tough times before, and we know how to stretch that limited budget to the max.  We’ll get through this; I hope everyone else will, too.

Hugs, all.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image at head of post taken at my new doctor’s office, because they required a photo.  It’s mine, so I figure I can use it freely.  Other images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio