Has the recession brought out your inner cheapskate?

[Stephen]

Are you finding yourself becoming more frugal than ever? Even when you don't really need to be? We'd love to hear how Mint.com is helping you weather this economic storm. How has using it affected your spending habits? Which luxuries have you decided you could do without?

Please let us know by posting to *this* thread. For a few select posts, we'll follow up directly via personal message or email to ask whether you'd like to be interviewed by a national newspaper.

[aequitas3]

Even before getting my first "real" job where I made a nice salary, I was tight with my money.

With the recent status of the economy, I have cut down a little bit on spending, but overall it's been the same. No cable TV, no more netflix, less beer, no more car (got rid of it August 2007), etc.

I have pretty much cut down every expense I can without getting rid of the cell phone (the 2G plan is $15/mo less than the 3G, so I haven't upgraded).

I end up spending more money on food because I go to the farmer's market for locally grown food and locally roasted coffee. The slight premium on price matches its quality and also helps my local economy.

[janie_super@yahoo.com]

i actually have been trying to get spending under control for years. 6 months ago i found mint and really took ahold of my finances. i had no idea we were in for a stock market crash. i'm not fearful of being layed off due to the economy because my line of work is nearly immune to it. However, i knew i was in alot of debt and had no emergency savings, so i'm really doing what im supposed to be doing, regardless of the economy right now.

[sbw99]

I've down graded my cell phone plan and searched for services I didn't realize were still charging me. Next on the chopping block is cable TV. I'm watching more an more "TV" as streaming video and looking into HDTV antennas. Once the NBA season is over, I doubt I'll miss Comcast's content. I definitely won't miss the absurdly expensive pricing model.

2 years ago I started buying refurbished products (direct from Dell, Apple, etc.). I started doing it to be environmentally friendly. Saving money feels good too!

[janie_super@yahoo.com]

yeah, as soon as my contract is up, im going to start a "pay per use" cell phone plan with no contracts. im fed up with sprint. they started this "optimize your plan" thing, and i ended up losing a really good plan, and now i have less minutes. they couldnt give me my old plan back because they no longer offer it.

as for cable, i pay basic so i can get internet which i cant live without. there really isnt much that i want to watch on satellite except the casey anthony trial if its shown on court TV in october. we use netflix at 2DVDs/month to watch everything else.

recently i've come to appreciate grocery store sales and coupons. i mean, i did before, but now im going to be more strict about it. this last trip saved me $30. im stocking up on stuff we buy anyway, but only if its on sale. the key thing is not to use the credit card to stock up!

[Forman3]

nice information thanks for this....

[benzaiten]

"Inner cheapskate" hardly an endearing label but I understand your gist. =)

Personally I have been a frugal saver and spender for decades long before mint. Mint has illustrated to me what I am already doing is prudent and effective. Mint did not help me achieve a frugal lifestyle or establish a disciplined mindset. However, what mint did for me was to create a visual interface in one (well more or less) location for some (unfortunately still not all) of my accounts. If mint truly wants to be the one stop financial resource it needs to step up and fix some of it's obvious areas of concern (these are listed in painful detail in the forums). There is a lot of areas mint needs to improve in specifically tracking savings, cash deposits/expenses, and other net worth concerns.

I also believe our current global economic situation has promoted frugality and financial literacy. People are being slapped hard financially and realize they can no longer remain in denial about their financial situation/habits. Likewise, instant gratification and keeping up with the Joneses is ultimately asinine and a horrible example to teach our children. Those that do, choose to do so at their own financial peril. Mint can ultimately teach these important financial lessons visually by adding hypotheticals tied directly to consumer spending like buying a Honda instead of a Lexus.

Over all, I am glad mint is helping in its own way to help promote financial literacy. This is greatly needed and there is a huge amount of improvement needed before mint can become the one stop user friendly financial tool for all ages.