US Shoppers Spent Less Over Black Friday: NRF

Thanks Diana for the ping and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Remember, if ya can’t pay cash then ya can’t afford it!

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I cancelled my cable in August this year. I also cancelled my cell phones in Oct when my contract ran up. We have free tv right now with an antenna, and I watch Glenn Beck and other shows we don’t get on thinks like blinko tv on the internet.

I have a pay per minute cell phone now, which costs 10 cents per minute (1000 mins for 100 bucks)that is only for emergencies-so the kids can get me if I am out etc. I have 20$ internet service (dsl) and got vonage for my phone at 33 per month. I have yet to pay a bill because for every member you refer to vonage, they give you a free month of service.

I insulated my house really well and my electric bill was much lower this year than last for the AC. I hang my clothes on a line and cook on the grill for even more savings. I put water saver heads on everything. Our usage per month has been reduced to 1000 gallons per person per month-including showers, cooking, laundry, everything except watering the garden, which is on a well/pump.

I wonder if others are doing the same as me?

Yeah, well, we’re almost done with our shopping (just my mom and finish up the two middle kids)...and we’re under budget! Got the big ‘something’ that the kids think they’re not getting this year at a discount (cash talks—especially those 100s!).

Dh is keeping meticulous records of Christmas spending...down to the penny.

The teachers are getting items off their classroom wish lists (we send in cash towards them and volunteers buy them and give them to the teachers). That’s what they asked for this year—you can only give them so many cookies and knick knacks (and with this economy, the school’s budget is strapped).

I’ll admit a bit of our shopping includes sending a check to a family member to purchase the desired item, but it saves shipping costs and the family doesn’t mind (we’re wrapping the gifts for the kids that my parents are sending so my mom doesn’t have to wrap and then pay to ship—gives her extra money to spend on gifts for the grandkids).

The debit card has only been used 2x to purchase Christmas gifts—once for an Amazon order, and once to pay for something that the store had to order since they ran out of the item (they only received half their shipment and it wasn’t a Black Friday special). The rest has been cold hard cash.

Dh and I decided our gift this year to each other was to up our blow money for December by $20 each...believe it or not, I find that a great gift :)

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