Quote Originally Posted by sundial View Post
With the stock market experiencing volatile changes and the banks struggling to remain solvent, have you made any changes in your day to day living?

I am buying cheaper groceries, making more meals from scratch, cancelled my newpaper and magazine subscriptions, driving less, painting with acrylics vs oils, and shifting money in my portfolio to less risky investments, watching less t.v. and spending more time with happy, upbeat people. I've noticed in the past several days that I am not receiving near the amount of junk mail. It kind of reminds me of post 9/11.

How about you?
you should trying being a college student or a poor post college student. You just described my life minus the art, TV, and investments. I am very economical so I notice when my grocery bill goes up because of the price of the store brand stuff went up. In turn I buy fewer groceries. I read my newspaper online and prevent less waste that way. I have yet to receive my Bicycling magazine subscription from performance. I am trying to put some money aside for when my loans come out of deferment. I don't own a TV. But you are right I need to spend more of my time with more fun upbeat people and stop working so much.

I am lucky I like biking so much. It gets me to where I need to go, which is surprisingly easy in DC. As long as I don't go crazy at the bike store, it is economical as well. I save about $5 round trip by not taking the metro. It is not a lot but it can add up, and I would rather use the money for groceries.
A little grease goes a long way. Starter costs for bike maintenance are still paying off and a bottle of T9 Boeshield lasts a long time. Oddly enough I find a bottle of White Lightening every year. It may not be the best lube but it is the best degreaser (isn't that odd?). I don't have to pay for a gym membership. Biking also keeps me busy. You know what they say: idle hands are the tool of the devil. I just raised over $2000 in memory of a friend's father through biking. You see biking is one of the ways I choose to live with intention.

My family is lucky, knock on wood, that the recession has not hit us. My father is a factory worker and has been laid off during times that have not been so terrible, buit so far so good. My mother is an accountant in a bank, and we all know banks are starting to pay for their ways. And although my job is not guaranteed for the year, I have a good boss who would find other ways to cut costs than to cut his workers.