June 8- Where we cut back

If you're trying to get more jingle in your jeans, pinching your pennies, or whatever other cliche money saving/budgeting phrase you can think of- I bet you've found creative ways to cut back.


I have been talking about cutting back a lot this week, it seems, with my close friends. Some are cutting back to save for something, some are cutting back out of desperate need, some are cutting back because its always smart to live frugal. Some step up to "cutting back" challenge easily while some suffer to eat ramen in order to drive a new car and have excessive gadgets.


We're getting by, even in the tough economy, but I think its because we live frugal and cut back. As newlyweds we went without a TV until a relative gave us their old one because they were upgrading to bigger and better. Even now we don't subscribe to any chanels or cable- we get our free 5 channels and barely watch that. Thanks to sites like Hulu.com we aren't missing out on any must-see shows, and we don't care for much television anyway. We also decided to go this summer AC free, to both see how long it would take us to go crazy and to see the difference in our utilities bill.


Back to our cutting back, needs, and wants. In teaching they explain to new teachers to always reflect on the heirarchy of needs, and it plays into adults as well as children. The base of the pyramid needs to be secure first before we can go up. It makes me wonder about my friends who practically starve (food is a basic need) to move up the pyramid to fancy "toys". How do you climb/see the heirarchy of needs in your own life?