How Much Can You Cut?

     Just about everywhere you look and read everyone is talking about cutting back and saving money. Starkly contrasting the Conspicuous Consumption  trend of the late 1980s and 1990s. Rolex watches, European cars, big houses, clubbing, fine dinning, golfing, game rooms, big television sets, high end stereo systems, clothes and you name it was cool. 
     And I do admit it was fun. I built a four bedroom, three bathroom house for me to live in by myself. I really wanted an old Victorian home and almost bought one. But you really run into a lot of additional cost with those. Remember the 1980s movie Money Pit? Probably not. I was driving a Jaguar XJ-6 and had a Chevrolet pickup (completely loaded of course). A stainless steel Rolex or two. Played golf at least two times a week. A profitable side business in addition to my regular job. Eighteen business suits in the closet along with twenty five sport coats, sixty dress shirts and pairs of pants. It was fun shopping you know. And you surely did not want to ware the same clothes again within thirty days. At least fifty pairs of shoes. 
     Not everyone was living like this but a lot were. If you were good at what you done you could make money. If you did not take the bull by the horns and step up you were out. I did my best at my regular suit and tie job. I also had a totally different part time business. Lawn care. Which would make $200 to $300 a week. Since service business was on the rise. If you are well off or unable you wouldn't cut your own grass. I took from the able to pay and charged little to the ones who did not have much. The little old ladies on one street that I ended up with ten jobs more then paid for it self. I would help them with moving and lifting things. But would only have to park and drive to one location. Spend the whole day there. But I did not over charge them or ask any more money to help them with other chores. Plus got a lot of physical activity. It gave me a lot of satisfaction to help the older people. And not over charge them. I worked seven days a week. Certain accounts as businesses did not have a problem with me doing their job on Sundays. One customer even preferred that I do their yard on Saturday evening. That way I could feed their dog and make sure it had water. Also picked up two other jobs on the same street. I would take care of them on Wednesday as the one with the dog wanted his yard mowed twice a week. One of the customers was an older widower who I would mow last. As he would always give me lunch and libation. I also mowed three yards on my own street. Which would be easy too. As I would take care of them when I done my own. My mowing equipment was a 1970 John Deere, two Lawn Boy push mowers one 19" and one 21", a weed eater and various hand tools.
     I have to say. I really enjoyed my house. I had the garage built extra wide. That way I did not need an out building to accommodate the lawn and garden equipment. When building the house I insulated and dry walled the garage. Had a telephone, heat and air. Of course I usually left that turned off. A nice work bench courtesy of my father.  I had a full bathroom in the basement. Nice landscaping and yard. With a fenced in back yard. Four 4x8 foot raised bed vegetable gardens. Eight different English Hybrid Tea Rose bushes. My neighbors were always welcome to clip some roses if they wanted to make an arrangement. Go to the back yard and get what ever they wanted from the garden. Nice little neighborhood. I also had a creek in the backyard which I lined with stone. So it looked pretty cool. Also checked the erosion. The house did however take a lot of work. Today I do not know how I had the time and energy to do it.
     Fast forward to today. Hard work only offsets the lethargy weight the companies have to tolerate. Because we are living in a politically correct society you know. Everyone is either looking for or trying to avoid a law suit. Problem here is the tort laws that we have. I go back to the old elementary school saying we used to have sticks and stone will hurt may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Now everyone is looking for something for nothing. No one wants to do anything and live high on the hog. 
     At this point in time my rent takes over half of my monthly income. I have a automobile that I guess I do not need or are worthy of. I mostly eat at or provide my meals from home. I do not buy new clothes. I keep utilities to a minimum. My little one bedroom apartment does everything I need. Although is costs more than the house payment was in 1992. 
     So how much can we cut back as consumers? What and where you cut has to be up to you. A person has to set their priorities for them self. Otherwise you cannot be happy. As most of us cannot have everything in the world. You just can't. 
     Let's start with housing. A nice place to live is important to me. So being over half of my take home income. I have to cut in over places. My living area is small but all I need. I live with nice views. They really keep up the place and will fix anything when you need it. Nice landscaping and amenities. 24 hour security team. Off the road for a mile, right on the joining of two rivers. Hate to come home from work and find your home broken into. No noisy traffic either. So that is where I step up.
     Transportation. What kind of car do you like. I have an eight year old economy car. I could however get by with a 1981 Chevrolet Chevette I had at one time. Stick shift with no air or power steering or brakes. But it got me where I was going. Nothing to break either. To some people a nice car or truck is important. Not where they live. That is their choice. I have and can a bicycle to work for years. Putting only about one thousand miles a year on a car that I really need. I am fortunate that I can and have rode a bicycle to work for seven years. And really could get along without a car. But with aging parents I have to have it to get to their house. If it were not for that I surely would not need it. As everything I really need is within bicycle range and the bus line runs right past my apartment complex. In the event I really needed a car I could just rent one. And a motor scooter with a large enough engine to run at highway speeds would do it. 
     Entertainment. Do you like to go out to clubs, concerts, restaurants, theme parks, golf or anything else like that. People have boats. That is there one big thing for the weekend. They work all week to live for the weekend. That's OK. They like to go out to movies. Out to eat. If you can, why not. If you can't don't worry about it. 
     Clothing. I am at a point where I do not need to dress up in business attire with a suit and tie. I have taken and donated most all of my dress clothes to the Salvation Army. Just saving one or two if I would ever need one again. With the exception of undergarments I can usually find what I need at Goodwill. Interesting enough I went to the mall the other day. Just to look around. I was in JC Pennys. The place was stacked with clothes. All very nicely arranged. I was almost the only customer in the store. I went there to replace some four year old Reebok tennis shoes. I did not buy them. I decided I just didn't need them. There were two clerks working (well there) in the shoe department. They never once asked me if I needed any help finding anything. Maybe I just looked like a hobo to them. But in twenty minutes they never even helped a nicely dressed old lady. After playing with their cell phones for a while they just started acting busy moving little things around. With a little attention I may have bought what I can there to get. Instead of deciding I did not need them anyway. No wander they are going broke. On the way out I passed a counter were a girl was standing. Playing on a tablet. I said are you busy today. She said always. Again not asking if I needed any help.As I sauntered through the rest of the mall the story was the same. The one exception was Payless shoes. Where they waited on me right away. But they didn't have what I was looking for. And did take the time to call another store to ask if they had it in stock. That was customer service. 
     Gadgets. Now days you see everyone clutching their phone like a baby with a pacifier. How much electronics do you want or need. I see people making $8 an hour with the latest and greatest phone. I have a ten year old 26 inch television. I works good enough. A ten year old computer. A stereo system pieced together from ebay and yard sale purchases. 
     Food. Everyone has noticed how high food prices are rising. You don't need a new house, car, clothes or gadget. But you do have to eat. As I work in a grocery store I see the prices rising all the time. Meat, the staples, the luxuries are all rising. People have been cooking at home and going out less. Can you or will you cook at home and pack your lunch for work? I have been trying to move away from meat. I like a rib eye steak as much as anyone. But it just doesn't fit the budget anymore. Even white bread is almost $2 a loaf. Even fast food places are hurting. About once or twice a month I go to a Burger King that is close to work. With a coupon. Hardly anyone is in there. So as America used to be the bread basket of the world. How are the other countries doing it? Most are going back to the old ways and eating food that they can grow close to home. Try to start growing so vegetable and herbs at home. What else do you have to do? I have had some success in growing tomatoes and green peppers in containers. Five gallon buckets. And am going to try to plant potatoes. May or not work. Worth a try.
     Energy. This covers a lot of territory. From your use of gasoline to electricity. You can control this to a certain extent. Do you have every light on in the house? What do you have your thermostat set at? Do you use compact fluorescent bulbs? Do you have your appliances set up on stripes that you can shut off when you are not using them? Do you unplug kitchen appliances when you are not using them? All of these moves can cause you to use less electricity. Do you use gas for heat? I had a gas stove, furnace, water heater and fireplace. I found some advantages to gas. If the electricity was off I could still use the stove by lighting it with a match. The fireplace would still provide heat as even being gas the furnace would not work without electricity.
     Habits and vices. We all have our little habits and vices. It could be gambling, smoking, drinking or indulging on luxury items we do not really need. So for a lot of folks this makes life worth living. So leave some room for this in your budget. 
     In conclusion, how much can you cut? Do you need to cut? If everyone made the average wage of $51,000 a year we would not have to cut out much. But we do not.The thing of it is that most people making high incomes are stretched out too. That big house which is now starting to need repair and the $50,000 SUV takes up their budget too. So i guess we all live at the max. A while back it did put on some prospective. I went to the ATM machine. There was a receipt hanging out of it. Someone drew out $800 and had a balance left of about $10,000. Really made me feel like a slug. $800 to blow on the weekend. More then half I bring home every month. But it is what it is. Being a bottom feeder is not that fun if you think too much about it. But you just have to get over it. Because you always see people who are not doing as well as you. The genuinely handicapped. The homeless. The people that have a great deal of personal and family problems. Problems with addictions. So you may not have the best of everything. But you have something.