North Carolina hasn’t seen double digit unemployment rates since 1983, but some economists warn that the current economic downturn could drive unemployment that high again. Share strategies you, your family, friends and neighbors, are using to survive in these tough economic times.
How are you dealing with tough times?
In all my years I have not seen an economy like this one. Money is practically worthless these days. Being a bachelor, I have never been one to cook. I have always taken the easy road to fast foods and such, and most always for lunch during my lunch hour. However, I now try to take my lunch with me to work. I'll spend part of the weekend (usually Sunday afternoons) cooking up a large batch of chili or homemade soup, making enough to last all week. I grant you the repeated same thing over and over does get tiresome, but I combat that by making it as good as I can when preparing it by putting in it what i like the most...especially the soup. From chicken to lima beans (which I love) can surely be found it my recipes.
In doing this I eliminate not only the ever-increasing cost of burgers and fries that can amount to about $6 daily, but I also eliminate the usage of very expensive gasoline by not driving to the local buger place. And the icing on the cake is the fact that I am eating a much healthier meal without all that fatty grease.
I estimate over a week's time I'm saving at least (including gas and food) around $30~$35. That's enough money saved in one week to pay for my gas to and from work. I think of all the ways to save, bringing your own lunch to work and eating it there will save you the most money than anything else you can do.
Some of the other things I am doing to cut my cost of living down include building a fire in the fireplace - even if it's not that cold outside - if it means keeping the furance from clicking on and running. I'll place a small fan in front of the fireplace screen and turn it on low. I also place another more powerful fan on the mantle above the fireplace. So far, doing this will raise my thermostat's reading up by around 4 or 5 degrees. Having electric heat, my highest bill so far this year was $46 for one month. I'm sure come January that will be higher, but I still think I am cutting it as much as I possibily can. To further my savings on electricity, at nighttime I'll hardly ever go out of one room into another without flicking the light switch off to the room I'm leaving. I sometimes will walk in the dark as I walk to the other light switch to turn it on.
Certainly none of the above steps of saving money will outweigh this vicious economy's demand on our money. But it will make things more bearable. Over time, doing little things such as the above can add up to unexpected savings. In this day and time, every little bit helps in a big way.