The New Economy

All the MSM is talking about is how bad things are with the economy. All over the TV and the Internets, there are news "specials" that show sob stories of families suffering right now because of Bush's economy. Etc, Etc, Etc.

But our lives haven't really changed all that much. Sure, we lost most of our savings in the stock market about a month ago along with everyone else, but that's the way of the markets. I expect that we'll have made the money back within the next 2 years, as long as Obamessiah and his cronies in Congress don't screw things up that much.

Some things we do differently due to the economy:

1. I shop at Aldi's 1 - 2x per month. Aldi's is a cash-only grocery store where you bag your own groceries. I can feed two people on Aldi's prices for a week for around $50-$60. I still visit my local (more expensive) grocer another 1 - 2 times per month.
2. We cut down satellite TV. No more Ghost Hunters or Dog Whisperer. Instead, we went to Dish's basic family plan which has the cable channels plus Fox News. We cut out about $40 a month there. I buy TV episodes of my favorite shows online for $2 now.
3. We don't eat out as often as we did about a year ago. Not a big deal.

With those two changes, I estimate we are saving approximately $120-$150 per month, which is more than enough to offset higher food prices. Take into account that gas is dirt cheap right now, and I am not quite sure why there are so many people complaining about the economy (other than lay-offs, or retirees losing their savings).

Another great thing is that just about every retailer in the entire universe is offering some sort of buying incentive. Whether it's sales, free shipping, no sales tax, etc. I've done all of my holiday shopping online so far, and it's been streamlined and relatively inexpensive. I've even started doing shopping on drugstore.com because of the convenience and the prices (which are competitive with my local drugstore, and drugstore.com offers no tax right now), instead of driving 10 minutes to my local Wal-Mart. So many online retailers are offering great deals on everyday products. Example: We just bought a $240 stroller off of Amazon.com for 50% off with free shipping.

Other than all that, we are pretty frugal people all things considered. We bought all used furniture for our nursery, and refinished a lot of it ourselves. I am a rampant ebay-er. I've been a Goodwill rat for the past several years. The one thing I do splurge on is books. I love buying e-books.

I could see how if you are used to living the high life, the current economy might be troublesome to the point of being in one of those sob stories, or if you just sorely mismanaged your finances.

Maybe I am naive.