How the Economy is Affecting Your Home

[David]

There is a great deal of dispute as to if we are in a recession. It takes three consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth to constitute a recession. We haven't had that. However, it's clear we are in a downturn. The job loss statement Friday of 80K lost jobs was a wakeup call. Though that's a mild loss by recent recession standards, it's bound to get worse.

Poor policies have, in large part, created this mess. We all know we have had miserable energy policies thrust at us for years. Eco whackos have forced us to ignore our own energy potential. Then we get this ridiculous mandate for corn based ethanol. What do we get? High gas prices. Rising prices for food.

The mortgage meltdown on top of the energy and food problems have created a witches brew for the economy.

However, it's amazing how fast perceptions have changed. Low unemployment and upward mobility seemed to be everywhere just weeks ago.Things haven't changed that much that fast. Much of this is media driven hysteria. How many of you saw the headline at Drudge from the leftist UK newspaper 'The Independent" last week. With people in line at a soup kitchen the headline read "Depression." Turns out the picture was from 2005. Their only evidence of a "Depression" was the high number of people getting food stamps.

I have no doubt we are into a downturn. We've had two of them in the last 25 years. They are cyclical. I also have no doubt in an election year the mainstream media will attempt to create the impression we are in 1929.

Gonna be discussing this Sunday on KSFO.

Shoppers scrimp as food prices rise
Fri Apr 4, 2008 2:32pm EDT

By Nicole Maestri

SECAUCUS, New Jersey (Reuters) - Patricia Norris' family is feeling the one-two punch of higher fuel and food prices.

Her husband works as messenger, driving around to deliver packages. But the job is not as profitable as it once was because rising fuel prices are eating into his earnings.

With money tight and food prices rising, Norris can no longer afford to buy beef and chicken on a regular basis.

"We buy meat only for special occasions. Like for Easter, we had a ham," she said after a shopping trip at her local Wal-Mart in Romeoville, a mixed blue- and white-collar suburb of Chicago.

Norris must purchase only what is on her shopping list, to avoid spending more than she can afford.

"Sometimes I cry," she said, when she passes items on store shelves she can no longer buy.

Across the United States, consumers like Norris are finding that grocery shopping has become a sobering experience as their budgets fail to keep pace with food costs.

Reuters reporters visited Wal-Mart stores in Romeoville, Illinois, Secaucus, New Jersey and Santa Clarita, California, on the last day of March and the first day of April to find out how shoppers are navigating the food aisles when they have payday cash in their pockets.

Already squeezed by high gasoline prices, slumping home values, a weakening job market and the possibility that the U.S. economy is in a recession, consumers have adopted a no-nonsense approach to shopping, passing over a trip to Target or a local grocery store if they can find lower prices at Wal-Mart.

They are buying cheaper store-brand products, avoiding costly cuts of meat, consolidating trips, clipping coupons, constructing well-researched shopping lists and avoiding splurges to spend only the bare minimum.

"I don't buy anything I don't have to," Norris said.

FOOD PRICES JUMP MOST IN 17 YEARS

U.S. consumer food prices normally rise by about 2.5 percent annually, but they increased by 4 percent in 2007 -- the biggest increase in 17 years, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.

Prices continue to rise. A survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation in February showed that in the beginning months of this year, the cost of 16 grocery items, including flour and cheddar cheese, was $45.03, up $3.42, or 8 percent, from the fourth quarter.

That has consumers like Laura Miller taking a calculated approach to shopping, much of which she does at Wal-Mart in Santa Clarita, California, a planned community on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Married with three little girls, Miller said her food costs have almost doubled to $300 every two weeks.

She plans meals two weeks in advance and shops with the daughter who doesn't ask her to buy snacks. Miller's printed shopping list, organized by item and place of purchase, shows that she does the bulk of her buying at Wal-Mart.

"I won't pay $6 for a box of cereal when I can get it for $3" at Wal-Mart, she said.

Karen Wikholm, a library worker from Romeoville, is another who does her homework before heading to the store, sorting through newspaper ads, hashing out which stores offer the best deals and figuring out where her coupons can go farthest.

She then gets in her car and, in one day, goes to her local Wal-Mart, Dominick's and Jewel grocery stores, buying only what is cheapest in each store.

The three stores are located about a mile from each other on a stretch of road that includes several strip malls interspersed with vacant plots for planned housing developments.

"We're shopping as the paycheck comes," she said.

PAYDAY MEANS GROCERY DAY

Increasingly, shoppers like Wikholm must wait until payday to load up on groceries and then hunker down until the next paycheck.

At all three Wal-Mart stores, that trend was visible.

The Wal-Mart in Secaucus, a few miles outside New York, operated at a leisurely pace on the afternoon of Monday, March 31. Shoppers slowly browsed store aisles or stopped at the in-store McDonald's for a snack.

But the store was bustling with activity at the same time the next day, as shoppers pushed overflowing carts loaded with cereal, soda, juice, frozen food and bread.

"There's no question that people are shopping when they have money in their pocket," said Tracy Ferschweiler, the manager of the Secaucus store.

Leslie Dach, executive vice president of corporate affairs and government relations at Wal-Mart, said the cycle of shoppers running out of money in between paychecks and then flocking to its stores on payday is "more pronounced, more visible."

While many U.S. retailers are facing waning sales as shoppers cut back on purchases of clothes, jewelry or home furnishings, Wal-Mart's vast grocery business and its emphasis on low prices is spurring a resurgence at its U.S. stores and in its stock price.

Its stock is up 15 percent this year, while Target, a more upmarket discounter, is up 7 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 percent. Wal-Mart's February sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 2.6 percent, helped by strength in its grocery business, while Target reported a 0.5 percent gain in its February sales.

Annette Reilly was at the Wal-Mart in Secaucus on April 1 to buy cereal for her 2-year-old grandson, who was sitting in her shopping cart. She said she is now buying cereal at the discount retailer because it charges $1 less per box than her local Stop & Shop.

"Why not?" she said of making the trip to Wal-Mart. "I can come here and save $5."

Saving those extra dollars is becoming more crucial.

Mary Ann Doyle, a 75-year-old retired teacher browsing in the dairy aisle at the Wal-Mart in Santa Clarita, said she is now buying food in smaller quantities, like half a dozen eggs instead of a dozen, and using more coupons.

"It needs to get better," she said of the economic situation. "I hope we've hit rock bottom."

SOURCE

[rachel]

Much of this is media driven hysteria.

Exactly. I don't expect to be standing in a soup line soon. I don't know why people get so riled up anyway. I mean, we as individuals and as a nation are so wealthy that in the worst of times there are millions who could live off what we waste.

That being the case, we will continue to thank God every night for our blessings. If there is a recession, and it affects our income, we may not be able to buy our ranchette as soon as we'd planned. Boo Hoo...there are people living in dirt floored huts, vulnerable to diseases I and mine don't give a minute's thought to, happy to get one meal a day that provides barely enough nutrition and calories to sustain them in life to the next.

Food prices are going up...so I buy pork a bit more often than beef because it's cheaper. I'm not living off of beans or sorghum, with meat being an unhoped for luxury.

[David]

Powerline

"Pink Slip Nation"

That's how the Minneapolis Star Tribune headlined its story on last month's decline in payroll jobs in its print edition:

It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long. Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. ***

The grim picture described by the Labor Department on Friday provided stark evidence of just how much the jobs market has buckled under the weight of the housing, credit and financial crises.

I'm sorry to see unemployment climb to 5.1%, but by historic standards, that's not exactly a "grim picture." For example, nothing like the unemployment rates that, along with runaway inflation, propelled Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980. But I wondered about a more recent comparison. Do you remember 1996, when Bill Clinton swept to an easy re-election victory over Bob Dole, on the basis of what pretty much everyone in the press considered a near-perfect economy? No "pink slip nation" in 1996!

Actually, though, the unemployment rate in November 1996, when Clinton rode a soaring economy to victory, was 5.4%. That's right--three tenths of a percent higher than the "grim picture" of a "pink slip nation" painted by this month's unemployment report.

To be fair, the unemployment rate in November 1996, while higher than the current rate, was essentially flat, while March's 5.1% unemployment represented an increase over the extraordinarily low rates that have characterized George Bush's presidency. Still, it makes you wonder: is the current hysterical treatment of economic news the product of a rational evaluation of the data, or is it just one more sign of the media's desire to put a Democrat in the White House in 2009?

PAUL adds: Maybe the Star Tribune was thinking about all the pink slips it has handed out recently.

[Addison]

Originally Posted by rachel

Exactly. I don't expect to be standing in a soup line soon. I don't know why people get so riled up anyway. I mean, we as individuals and as a nation are so wealthy that in the worst of times there are millions who could live off what we waste.

That being the case, we will continue to thank God every night for our blessings. If there is a recession, and it affects our income, we may not be able to buy our ranchette as soon as we'd planned. Boo Hoo...there are people living in dirt floored huts, vulnerable to diseases I and mine don't give a minute's thought to, happy to get one meal a day that provides barely enough nutrition and calories to sustain them in life to the next.

Food prices are going up...so I buy pork a bit more often than beef because it's cheaper. I'm not living off of beans or sorghum, with meat being an unhoped for luxury.

Well said. Relative to those you mention, we do have too much to be thankful for to be such whiners.

My answer to answer David's question: we don't eat a lot of pork, but we buy more store brands, fewer pre-packaged fancy foods, and generally fewer splurges on things.

[joe]

Very Amerocentric.

The favorite new buzz word.

Regarding how this economy effects our home. I realiz some people want us to live in their "reality" by selling our homes for a loss, move closer to work to save on gas, where it may cost more or move a family a four into an efficiency apartment, not to worry about the school system we move into or how they indoctrinate our kids, and purchase a family sized bicycle with multiple baskets to carry our bags of groceries while driving in lots of traffic. What fun fun fun.

[joe]

Fox said:

We voted for Democrats in 2006 because we wanted change and we got it.

This is true. Except they didn't bring our troops home immediately, as promised.

[kestrel]

Food prices are going up...so I buy pork a bit more often than beef because it's cheaper. I'm not living off of beans or sorghum, with meat being an unhoped for luxury.

So you lost your beef. Whoopiedeedoo. I know it has crossed your mind that other people do life off of rice, beans, sorghum and other cheap crops which they clearly can't switch to cheaper alternatives like you can. For a lot of people (10x more than the population of the US) higher grain prices don't just mean 'switching to pork,' it means hunger. So, keep in mind that not every economy has a 'fat' buffer so to speak and we do live in a globalized society these days. Food prices might even have bigger economic effect than energy prices right now. However, it is the energy prices causing the food prices.

Food riots are occurring all over Africa and Asia right now (small crops combined with biofuel demand).

Power outages and rationing of fuel have been occurring in many countries.

The shanghai stock market lost 45% of its value in the last 5 months.

The 5th largest mortgage bank in the US just got subsidized by the taxpayer.

Consumer debt/income is at the highest numbers ever.

American savings rates are negative.

The national debt numbers are set to make Bush the '10 Trillion dollar man' by the time he leaves office.

OPEC production numbers show flat production the last two years.

Many consulting companies and at least 2 major oil companies (ConocoPhillips and Total) are calling for peak oil in the next 3 years.

I'm sorry, where is everything OK?

We're officially short the dow financials as of Wednesday (SKF) and will be long on commodities (oil & gold) for the forseeable future.

[rachel]

So you lost your beef. Whoopiedeedoo. I know it has crossed your mind that other people do life off of rice, beans, sorghum and other cheap crops which they clearly can't switch to cheaper alternatives like you can. For a lot of people (10x more than the population of the US) higher grain prices don't just mean 'switching to pork,' it means hunger. So, keep in mind that not every economy has a 'fat' buffer so to speak and we do live in a globalized society these days.

kes, that's the screed of a self-righteous little creep, and I haven't found you to be one in the past. What gives? Did you actually read my post?

Get off your high horse, mister, I don't imagine you're living off rice, beans and sorghum to demonstrate solidarity with all those poor folk living in your "globalized society". You know, if you moved into the cheapest studio apartment you could find, in the poorest neighborhood, sold all your gizmos, gadgets, toys and other excess possessions and restricted yourself to the bare nutritional necessities to maintain breath in your body, you could probably support at least several whole families in Darfur with the money you'd save. So until you do, mind your manner.

My whole post was chiding those Americans who are spending their energy whining because they might have to cut back on their luxuries a tiny bit in a slow economy instead of being grateful that our nation is so rich that when times get a little more difficult, they have so many luxuries that it's a choice between what to cut back on rather than a choice between a roof or food to eat. I'd like you to show me where I said "everything was O.K."!

Go back and read my post and then I'll accept your apology if you're intellectually honest enough to make one.

[kestrel]

My post was not a moral critique of our lifestyle. I intended to point out that higher grain prices are going to severely effect the global economy because the economic condition and diets of most people are drastically different and cheaper than those in the western world.

You stated:

Exactly. I don't expect to be standing in a soup line soon. I don't know why people get so riled up anyway. I mean, we as individuals and as a nation are so wealthy that in the worst of times there are millions who could live off what we waste.

Very Amerocentric. Ignoring the fact that we live, breathe and die in a global economy.

You can only focus on what the reactions of Americans will be for high food prices. Well, if most American products and wealth originated in America this would make sense. But since it mostly originates in other countries the fact that citizens of other countries can no longer afford to eat will impact our economy.

[rachel]

Really?

So you lost your beef. Whoopiedeedoo. I know it has crossed your mind that other people do life off of rice, beans, sorghum and other cheap crops which they clearly can't switch to cheaper alternatives like you can.

Sounds pretty moralistic, not to mention rude and accusatory towards me personally. As for your superior attitude and snotty accusation that I am only thinking about Americans, who the hell do you think I was referring to when I wrote of people living in dirt floored huts ?

That being the case, we will continue to thank God every night for our blessings. If there is a recession, and it affects our income, we may not be able to buy our ranchette as soon as we'd planned. Boo Hoo...there are people living in dirt floored huts, vulnerable to diseases I and mine don't give a minute's thought to, happy to get one meal a day that provides barely enough nutrition and calories to sustain them in life to the next.

Food prices are going up...so I buy pork a bit more often than beef because it's cheaper. I'm not living off of beans or sorghum, with meat being an unhoped for luxury.

As my post noted quite clearly, I am very aware of the blessings the wealth of this nation afford me and mine and am also cognizant of the fact that there are many people in the world who don't have such blessings.

By the way, my concern over such people is based on compassion for their distress not in a selfish concern over how their distress will impact our economy!

[David]

Some folks are definitely having problems. Real Eastate may not be the best place to be at the moment.

BTW, a lot of this is regional. No doubt things are worst on both coasts than they are in fly over country. Here in Texas unemployment is at a record LOW.


SF Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg.../RENBVULBH.DTL

Number of real estate agents starts to shrink


After two years Jamie Gutierrez has quit the real estate ...

When Jaime Gutierrez got his real estate license and made his first sale a few months later, he thought that it was the beginning of a new career. But after a little more than two years in the business, Gutierrez called it quits.

"I figured that I would swing two jobs for two years and then make the jump," said Gutierrez, who continued to drive a cab at night and on weekends as he tried to build his real estate career. "It never got to that point. Right at the two-year mark, things weren't stable enough."

[Fox]

We voted for Democrats in 2006 because we wanted change and we got it.

[rachel]

We voted for Democrats in 2006 because we wanted change and we got it.

My answer to answer David's question: we don't eat a lot of pork, but we buy more store brands, fewer pre-packaged fancy foods, and generally fewer splurges on things.

The pork thing was really more of an example...beef has gone up much more than pork, so I buy beef when we really want it, but chicken and pork are cheaper, and we like them just as well. For the two of us, yeah, groceries are more expensive, but we aren't really hurting much because of it. We don't have kids to feed, and I've always cooked much of what we eat from scratch. Since neither of us have a big car or a long commute, gas prices haven't affected us all that much either. I suspect that the biggest impact on us, if we do go into a recession, is that we'll have to hustle a bit more in terms of our business as the services we provide are really luxury items. I'm not worried though. I have a waiting list, and Derick gets run off his feet for all but the ickiest winter months. Anyhow, if you're willing to work, you can always make money, even during a recession.

Prices going up, I'll discipline myself to drive across town to the less convenient but much less expensive grocery store. I've been gradually inserting more and more Asian, Southeast Asian and Indian meals into our week, which is already helping lower the grocery bill, though I am doing it more for our health and weight than because of cost. These cuisines use a much larger proportion of vegetables, legumes and grains to meat than the usual Western diet, which is both healthier and less expensive.

Tonight though, we're doing the All American beef and potatoes dinner...Tri Tip on the grill, mashed potatoes, grilled mixed veggies & I think I'll make a French onion soup for a starter with that good stock I made and froze a couple of weeks ago.

[dpt]

14 years or so ago I was living near Alabany NY, and some state legislator-type was bemoaning the high-cost of breakfast cereals.

You know, there are other things to eat besides breakfast cereal, and if you must have cereal, there are plently of less-expensive "generic" brands.

[joe]

You know, there are other things to eat besides breakfast cereal, and if you must have cereal, there are plently of less-expensive "generic" brands.

Competition is great.

[David]

Some generics are no different than the brand names. Some miss the mark. Gotta experiment.

Wal Mart Super Centers are a godsend. The libs throughout California have fought them tooth and nail. Now is the time they will be sorely missed.

[David]

BTW, regardless of politics, this will be a great thread in which to share money saving tips. Product reviews, etc.

[dpt]

"this will be a great thread in which to share money saving tips. Product reviews, etc."

We buy generic food brands for the most part, when we eat process foods at all. When it comes to food, I started to bring my lunch to work, to watch my portions, my snacking and other habits, and over the past five months I have lost 20 lbs.

[Nightpath]

The piper.

It is so rough, Hillary, who is sensitive and feels our pain, should share some of her 109 million dollars with deserving poor people who can’t afford their mortgage… she should tell her campaign manager to give back the money she stole from the people.

If that doesn’t happen, does anyone think liberals will finally shut up about “greedy” conservative couples who make less than $100,000 (combined) a year?

[David]

NY Times
SOURCE
We switched from "Tide HE" to "Gain HE." Many more generics. I love the day old bakery goods.
One thing we haven't done is hoard rice.

NY Times

Recession Diet Just One Way to Tighten Belt
By MICHAEL BARBARO and ERIC DASH

Stung by rising gasoline and food prices, Americans are finding creative ways to cut costs on routine items like groceries and clothing, forcing retailers, restaurants and manufacturers to decode the tastes of a suddenly thrifty public.

Spending data and interviews around the country show that middle- and working-class consumers are starting to switch from name brands to cheaper alternatives, to eat in instead of dining out and to fly at unusual hours to shave dollars off airfares.

Though seemingly small, the daily trade-offs they are making — more pasta and less red meat, more video rentals and fewer movie tickets — amount to an important shift in consumer behavior.

In Ohio, Holly Levitsky is replacing the Lucky Charms cereal in her kitchen with Millville Marshmallows and Stars, a less expensive store brand. In New Hampshire, George Goulet is no longer booking hotel rooms at the Hilton, favoring the lower-cost Hampton Inn. And in Michigan, Jennifer Olden is buying Gain laundry detergent instead of the full-price Tide.

Behind the belt-tightening — and brand-swapping — is the collision of several economic forces that are pinching people’s budgets or, at least, leaving them in little mood to splurge.

The price of household necessities has surged, with milk topping $4 a gallon in many stores and regular gasoline closing in on $3.60 a gallon nationwide.

Home prices are sliding, wages are stagnant, job losses are growing and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, a broad measure of stock performance, is down 6 percent in the last year. So consumers are going on a recession diet.

Burt Flickinger, a longtime retail consultant, said the last time he saw such significant changes in consumer buying patterns was the late 1970s, when runaway inflation prompted Americans to “switch from red meat to pork to poultry to pasta — then to peanut butter and jelly.”

“It hasn’t gotten to human food mixed with pet food yet,” he said, “but it is certainly headed in that direction.”

Retail sales figures and consumer surveys confirm that Americans are strategically cutting corners, whether it is at the coffee house or the airport. (In: brewing coffee at home and flying coach. Out: Starbucks and first class.)

In March, Americans spent less on women’s clothing (down 4.9 percent), furniture (3.1 percent), luxury goods (1.3 percent) and airline tickets (1.1 percent) compared with a year ago, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, a service of the credit card company that measures spending on 300 million of its cards and estimates purchases with other cards, cash and checks.

Wal-Mart Stores reports stronger-than-usual sales of peanut butter and spaghetti, while restaurants like Domino’s Pizza and Ruby Tuesday have suffered a falloff in orders, suggesting that many Americans are sticking to low-cost home-cooked meals.

Over the last year, purchases of brand name cookies and crackers have fallen, according to Information Resources, which tracks retail sales.

Sales of Nabisco graham crackers have dropped 7.5 percent, and Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies have slipped by 12.3 percent. Not even beer is immune. Sales of inexpensive domestic beers, like Keystone Light, are up; sales of higher-price imports, like Corona Extra, are down, the firm said.

Some are skipping drinks altogether. The number of people ordering an alcoholic drink fell to 31 percent last month from 42 percent last summer, according to a survey of 2,500 people conducted by Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm.

“People have started to shift spending as if we were in a recession,” said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard.

Such trade-offs were on vivid display last week in Ohio, where layoffs have been rampant. At Save-A-Lot, a discount grocery store in Cleveland, Teresa Rutherford, 51, chided her sister-in-law, Donna Dunaway, 44, for picking up a package of Sara Lee honey ham (eight ounces for $2.49).

“We can’t afford that!” she said. “Get the cheap stuff.” They settled on a 16-ounce package of Deli Pleasures ham for $3.29, or 34 percent less an ounce.

The women said that soaring prices for food and fuel had changed what they buy and where they buy it. “We used to eat out at Bob Evans or Denny’s once a month,” said Ms. Rutherford, who works in an auto-parts factory. “Now we don’t go out at all. We eat in all the time.”

Ms. Dunaway, a homemaker, used to splurge on the ingredients for homemade lasagna, her husband’s favorite, before food prices began to surge this year.

“Now he’s lucky to get a 99-cent lasagna TV dinner, or maybe some Manwich out of a can,” she said. “I just can’t afford to be buying all that good meat and cheese like I used to.”

By no means has the economic downturn been bad for all product categories. For instance, sales of big-ticket electronics, like $1,000 flat-panel televisions and $300 video game systems, are on the rise, according to retailers and research firms.

Falling prices for such devices and a looming government deadline to convert to digital television have helped. So has the view, sensible or not, that the technology is a good investment. At a Best Buy in Southfield, Mich., James Szekely, 28, a mechanical engineer, was shopping for a big high-definition TV that he expected would cost at least $2,000, an expense he rationalized because “at least we can watch movies at home.”

(In a survey conducted this month by the NPD Group, a research firm, consumers suggested that they would sooner cut spending on clothing, furniture and eating out than on video games.)

At Home Depot, sinks and faucets are selling briskly. Managers at the chain suspect that consumers, loath to spend money on a splashy kitchen renovation or new roof, are settling for a cheaper bathroom “refresh.”

Another top seller at home improvement stores: programmable thermostats and insulation, which can cut fuel bills.

Many retailers are struggling to adjust to the new needs. Clothing sales have started to sink at department stores like Macy’s, Kohl’s and J. C. Penney. So have furniture sales at companies like Bombay and Domain, both of which have filed for bankruptcy protection.

Consumers are spurning small indulgences. Starbucks is warning of a drop-off in purchases, and sales have dipped at higher-end restaurant chains, including the steakhouses Ruth’s Chris and Morton’s.

To drum up business, Domino’s is offering a new deal: three 10-inch pizzas for $4 each. “We are not recession-proof,” said the chain’s president, J. Patrick Doyle.

But chains that emphasize low prices, like TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart, are thriving. And cut-rate supermarkets, like Save-A-Lot, are swamped.

“People are not not spending, but they are changing how they spend,” said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at the NPD Group.

And they are often willing to sacrifice convenience or swallow their pride.

George Goulet, 52, the business traveler switching from the Hilton to the Hampton Inn, now books flights that depart in the afternoon rather than the early morning. “It’s a lot cheaper,” he said. “I can really see the difference.”

Mary Gregory, 55, a telephone company operator in Cleveland, used to eat red meat at least once a week. Now it is hardly ever on her menu. “I usually buy turkey instead,” she said. “Any recipe that calls for meat, like chili or spaghetti, I try to substitute turkey.”

Carl Hall, a retired construction worker in Detroit, wants to buy a fence for his backyard. But he decided not to buy a finished product at Lowe’s, the home improvement chain where he was shopping recently. With money tight, “I am looking to put it together myself,” he said, adding that he hoped to save $200.

As the compromises mount, people are even coming up with clever schemes to hide their cost-cutting.

Holly Levitsky, a 56-year-old supermarket cashier in Cleveland, buys a brand of steak sauce called Briargate for 85 cents and surreptitiously pours it into an A1 steak sauce bottle she keeps at home.

“My husband can’t even tell the difference,” she said.

SOURCE