which luxuries could you live without?

[nageov3t]

if you found yourself unemployed today, which luxuries that you currently enjoy would be the first to go?

it'd probably have to be having my laundry done for me... every other week, I drop off all my clothes at my dry cleaners, have my button-down shirts dry cleaned and they wash the rest for $1/pound (usually adds up to $25-30/visit). it's nice turning a multi-hour trip to the laundromat into a 10 minute stop off at my cleaners, but it's definitely something I could live without if I had to.

 

[JJChicken]

Well I am a student atm so don't have much luxuries. Probably, if I get unemployed and live by myself I'd eat out less to save money. Don't have much frivoulous expenses apart from that.

 

[shortylickens]

My lazy boy, my couch, my full bed, my kitchen, my books, my toilet (its always stopped up anyway, I keep having to use the nice one in the apartments lounge area), my parking space, my TV and console systems. Those are the luxuries I could live without.

But NOT: My shower, computer (internet machine, the game computer is another luxury), and the laundry machines.



Sorry if those dont seem like luxuries to you, but I just lost my job and found another. Went from 27 dollars an hour to 17 dollars an hour, and the new town is about 1 and a half times more expensive.
I have a totally new concept of what luxury is.
My old apartment was about 1000 square feet, two bed, two bath, nice full size washer and dryer in the apartment, I had a neat little patio with a big storage room and two good parking spaces.

Now I'm living in a 600 square foot dump. Smaller patio with a really small storage room, cheap, tiny stacked washer and dryer, totally useless fireplace which messes up my living room organization. Only one bedroom so I had to put the computer in a tiny dining area (that was another thing which was MUCH bigger at my old place), cramped little kitchen and none of the cuboards are big enough to hold my pots & pans, not enough counter top space to hold my microwave and steamer at the same time, and the damn toilet gets clogged EVERY TIME I take a dump. Also, the baseboard heaters are arranged poorly and take up too much space, and all the outlets are in bad places.
I actually think I preferred the Navy barracks, at least we had industrial strength toilets. Never once got a clog.

Yup, when you go down several notches in the liveability index you get a fresh perspective on whats luxurious. But I remind myself I was doing too well with my fancy 50,000 dollar job and needed a humility lesson.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Without thinking too much, we could drop HBO, fire the house cleaners, stop going to Dunkin Donuts every morning , and I could mulch the yard myself every spring instead of hiring some one or just not mulch at all.

 

[byronm]

I've just changed my attitude of what luxury is. It used to be having nice/expensive things now its more so having some nice affordable things and living within my means. True luxury is when my credit cards are gone, my mortgage is done and the only payments i'll have are filling up the gas tank on my chopper and paying for insurance.

 

[FreshCrabLegs]

*

 

[chin311]

id prolly get rid of , cable tv, gym membership, eating out more than eating home (single = eating out alot) lol, maybe my ps3 and panny plasma

and really thatd be about it, id prolly hold on to my cable internet / computers as long as possible of course

 

[DnetMHZ]

I'd gladly give up cable TV. It's a rip off anyway.

 

[Aharami]

cable tv and internet. switch to DSL.

 

[vi edit]

Dish TV (dropping it altogether this week any way, $80 a month gone)

Dropping from a $50 a month cable internet to a $20 DSL (doing that this month too)

Dropping the phone line that runs me $55 a month (probably doing that too)

I could probably live with a track phone and drop my cell phone plans too..but that one would be tougher.

We have pretty modest cars(relative to current income) and reasonable insurance, but there's probably some savings that could be made by going down to older models that are still cheaper yet. And we've already trimmed back over $200 a month in car payments vs. what we were paying a year ago plus we're saving close to $100 a month in gas and insurance with the newer cars vs. what we had.

Outside of that, we run pretty lean. The next biggest thing that could be cut would be downsizing the house and going to a smaller payment. But the loss we'd take in realtor fees along with all the other hastles and nickel and dime expenses of moving and new closing costs would take a couple years to make up the difference.

 

[Cogman]

The internet would be essential for me. But I could live with a 56k connection. My cell phone would go in place of a land line connection (actually, thats not a bad idea now...).

TV could go, mostly just garbage on TV anyways. My dryer could go (but not my washing machine). My dishwasher could go. I could take shorter showers. I could underclock my cpu and keep my computer off most of the time . mm, thats about it of what I could give up if I am broke.

 

[ViviTheMage]

the things i couldnt get rid of:

my condo (obviously, where I live)
my car (transportation to and from work)
desktop computer (to have some gaming/internet browsing)
otherwise, TV, etc can all go if need be.

 

[lokiju]

10mx1mb internet

I could cut that in 1/4 and get by.

TV also.

If I had a house phone I'd probably drop down my cell phone plan, but I don't.

I'd probably also stop my motorcycle insurance and not drive it until I got another job, it's only $30 per month, but every bit helps when you're looking for work.

That's about it, I don't have any other monthly reoccurring cost that are not needed that I can think of.

I'd drop my consumption a lot though on things like heating the house, food.

 

[jjones]

The hookers. Wait, on second thought...

 

[MotionMan]

Eating out for lunch would certainly be the first thing to go and is something I should have changed a long time ago anyway. I would save a ton of money if I brought lunch instead.

MotionMan

 

[krunchykrome]

$40 haircuts
Dining out a couple nights per week (not at chain restaurants)
$7 smoothies
Widescreen monitors
etc etc etc

Is there anything that we consume that isn't a luxury anymore?

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: jjones
The hookers. Wait, on second thought...

:laugh:

Necessities, Necessities.

 

[Casawi]

Basically going to being a student living on Ramen, which could happen if I don't get my damn H1 visa ..lol

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: MotionMan
Eating out for lunch would certainly be the first thing to go and is something I should have changed a long time ago anyway. I would save a ton of money if I brought lunch instead.

MotionMan

Eating out at lunch is around $300 a month, I know bad habit ... I am working on it as well. eating out period .

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Aharami
cable tv and internet. switch to DSL.

I'm already there. Unemployed, and I so far enjoy none of the luxuries I've seen mentioned as dispensible here. I'm extemely frugal. I know some pretty arcane stuff about how to live well on less, been that way for years. I've thought a lot about writing a book about it but decided it was weird. Maybe I will anyway. I'm damn good at it.

Own my own house, no mortgage.
Two cars, drive < 2000 mi/year (bike and skate around town)
Cook my own food, buy inexpensive prep items.
Cheapest cell phone plan around, probably ($25/mo.)
Get my DVDs from the library
No cable (just rooftop)
Shop at Costco, find deals online
Pay off my credit cards every month (no interest), and they are % discount cards
Free checking account
etc.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I could live without TV (sell the 61inch and the 27inch if I had to)
I could live without eating out (usually go to lunch 4 days per week, for like $5-$10 each day)
I could buy "insert generic lager here" instead of "insert expensive ale here" and save like $10 to $20 per week

I already sacrificed many many luxuries over the last few months in order to stay afloat whilst purchasing a new house and selling my old townhouse for much less than I wanted for it. My mortgage is 50% more than it was a year ago, and I pretty much have 0 left of my savings. (Even sold some of my stock!.)
That said .... I'm slowly paying down the CC and I'm switching the remainder of the balance over to a 0% interest card .... so things are getting better, and I'll be able to finally upgrade my PC some time and maybe upgrade from oldschool RPTV to an hd set in the 50+ inch range or to a projector.

 

[legoman666]

$30/mo giganews
4 computers + laptop

that's about it. But you'll never take my internet away from me.

 

[AmpedSilence]

i don't know; my current monthly budget is about what I would get if were to lose my job and go on unemployment. So, I guess i'm not REALLY living that luxurious of a life?

but if my unemployment ran out? Probably the first thing to go would be cable TV and drop to DSL internet or something. Other than that, I don't have anything else that I could cut out. I eat at home four to five times a week. I guess I could start packing my lunches?

 

[Beev]

All of my video games.

 

[EGGO]

My luxury clothes. I need my fountain pen, computer, and....well wait no take the TV away first. I barely watch anything anyway.