Would you like to know how long it takes a shipment to go from London to San Francisco by boat?
Two months, two weeks, four days, and counting…
In other words, far too long…
Companies (yes, more than one) have spent an obscene amount of money moving us overseas and back this past year and I’ve had absolutely no qualms whatsoever about spending every last dime… or pence… or whatever the local currency happens to be.
We shed as much as we could prior to leaving London, but in the finally fury of packing we decided to just throw it all in a box. Seal it up! TAKE IT ALL!
Now, I’m beginning to question that logic…
As I told our insurance company, with the exception of a handful of personal items, souvenirs, and family photos, no one item in our shipment is all that valuable… or irreplaceable.
Clothes, books, toys, STUFF…
Having lived without it for nearly three month, do we really even need it?
I mean, it’s going to be awesome to have my sets of Cutco and Calphalon back, but we are getting by just fine with two santuko knives and four pots and pans I picked up at TJ Maxx.
Like the rest of the country, we’ve been living on less these last few months. It’s been tough (often stressful) to actually think through purchases rather then splurge.
I have to remember to pack snacks in case we get hungry instead of just stopping somewhere. I clip coupons and exclusively shop sales and consignment. In the big scheme, these are all little things really.
The biggest adjustment has been going from two cars to one.
We sold one of our cars before leaving for London, of course, not realizing we’d be back so soon…
We planned to purchase something small and inexpensive for Mr. D’s daily commute once we got here, but found it to be completely unnecessary.
We’ve arranged it so that Mr. D takes the train to work everyday, with Scout and I driving him to the station and back. Instead of sitting in rush hour, he’s able to sit back, read, listen to podcasts, relax…
Meanwhile, his company pays for the entire fare whereas they definitely wouldn’t have paid for his gas. Bonus!
When I tell friends back home about this arrangement, they are shocked. Of course, it would be much harder to pull this off in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas.
To be completely honest, I probably wouldn’t have been so keen the idea either if we hadn’t lived in London, without a car and completely dependent on walking and public transportation.
(Did I mention that’s how I lost the baby weight that my expensive gym membership couldn’t budge?)
It’s really not that bad, especially when you add up what we save in a car payment, maintenance, and gas… not to mention the ridiculous cost of annual registration in the broke ass State of California.
Yes, it takes more effort to coordinate my day. I have to schedule weekday appointments or nights out around drop-off and pick-up.
On weekends, we combine errands, which is what everyone should be doing to conserve gas anyway… Otherwise, we’re usually out doing stuff as a family, together in one car.
So how have you cut back? How is working out for you?
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My hubby takes the bus, too, but he drives himself to the stop!
Coupons, no going out, all of the typical stuff. To be honest though, we don’t really have a lot of spending to do that we can cut! Daycare is out biggest expense!
Krystyn’s last blog post..A trip to the square
I love, love not having a car for all the reasons you mention and more: not just the money spent but also the worry–what if it doesn’t start, what if the oil leaks, what if the tire blows out on the freeway… If I do go back to the states at some point it will be hard for me unless I live somewhere where this sort of life is possible!
I have to admit, I’m a bit isolated from the economy at the moment because of the job sector I’m in (which sees increases in a bad economy), so I have not been doing any real cutting. Foolish, perhaps, given that I still have $5k of US debt that is harder to pay off now that the pound is worth nothing…
NFAH’s last blog post..Glasgow train adventures, take 2
We car pool when we can, don’t eat out, and down graded to cheaper satellite and internet packages. We also really make sure to turn off the lights and conserve water to cut back on our utility bills.
That said, my boyfriend and I are both lucky because so far our jobs haven’t been hurt by the economy. We are just trying to save as much and pay down as much of our debt NOW in case:)
Steph’s last blog post..Yesterday… sucked
We ain’t got no car! (Though it is easier in Europe…) We do have a bike trailer, though, that doubles as a grocery-wagon when someone can stay home with the kid. Does it take longer? Sure. But there’s nothing like that smug sense of superiority one gets when rolling up to the entrance of the organic shop on one’s bike, while the other planet-haters walk quickly past in shame from their cars…
We have one car…and we never drive it. That’s just The Big City deal. It’s so much easier to walk everywhere.
As far as cutting back. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I am a minimalist. I. Never. Shop. Aside from groceries and diapers, what else could I possibly need?
I’m lucky, there really are no big stores in the area (Target, walmart, I think there’s a Best Buy, but I never go)…
I think I’m a martian:p
Nap Warden’s last blog post..Blow Out
My DH works from home when he’s not traveling for work (which is about 20% of the time traveling). When he travels, he takes the train most of the time, even when he needs to take two trains to his final destination.
We also clip coupons, consolidate errand trips, meal planning before shopping, taking snacks with us places, and I pack lunch to work. Things are going great. We just hope it stays going well for us.
Heather’s last blog post..PG – 22 Weeks 2 Days – Dewey Beach & Ultrasound Today
I soooooo feel your pain… our Henkels and Fiestaware are in storage in the States.
In the last year we’ve more than cut back– we’ve practically chainsawed our budget in order to live as a two-graduate-student-parent household. We’ve bought only the most basic, minimal household goods possible, Argos and Sainsbury’s stuff that will hopefully not fall apart before March 2010 (graduation). We don’t have a car now and actually barely used our car before we sold it (that smugness Kevin’s talking about is addictive). We’d like to think that if more people followed our lead (consciously choosing to rent close to the office (and build up savings) rather than participate in the suburban mortgage bubble/commuter insanity) the economy and the environment would be in happier places (see, that smug superiority, it’s addictive).
(Hmmm, shall I throw in some more parenthesis?) (yes!) (!)
kenandbelly’s last blog post..My *New* Dissertation topic
Hmmm, my point would make more sense if I noted that we lived in an urban village right by the Metro (subway) in the DC Metro area (prime real estate bubble territory, especially in the ex-urbs) before we moved to England for an 18 month MBA program.
kenandbelly’s last blog post..My *New* Dissertation topic
We’re dining out much less, sadly. I’m also economizing on the groceries, making larger portions so we can have leftovers rather than doing multiple meals with more ingredients. Definitely shopping less at the biggie stores like Target where there is just way too much to buy. As my folks would say, we’re tightening the belt. Hey maybe this will help me lose the 5 lbs I keep meaning to lose.