Pennies From Heaven?

A constant thought I have had on my mind this past month has been that my car needs new tires. Winter is fast approaching, leaves are falling, and the poor excuse for tires that my Yota currently has are not going to cut it for much longer.

So I have been trying to figure out how to save about $500-600 to pay for such new tires in the next 4 weeks. I would ideally have new tires by Thanksgiving.

Without divulging my income, I can say this: It's not going to be easy. Regardless of my promotion last June, and managing to pay off a few credit cards which set me back 2 years due to a month of retail therapy back in the late summer/early fall of '06, I am still living with a very tight budget. It is not nearly as scary as it was at times when I was just starting out, I do have money left over after paying my bills, but not enough to put away a big enough chunk of change each week to take care of this necessity.

So, I am forced to re-evaluate how I am living, how I am spending, and where I can make some sacrifices. Gas prices have been dropping, thank goodness, and I have decided that after this past weekend's trip home to see family, I won't be heading back to the Boston area until Thanksgiving. I rarely buy coffee anymore, and I need to make a concerted effort to bring lunch every day and deal with drinking the office coffee instead of Dunks or Starbucks (Dear Pumpkin Spice Latte, I will miss you.). I need to babysit more and put that extra money right into savings. My weekends need to be especially frugal.

It's not easy. Being 25, you want to go out on the weekends, or spend $50 on a new pair of shoes, have a fabulous dinner with your girlfriends and not worry about what you order because you might not have enough for tipping. So I ask this: In this economy, how bad are you feeling the pinch? Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Have you not felt one bit of tightening in your wallet? What do you do to make it easier?

I keep saying it'll get easier, with the hope that indeed it will. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a credit card bill, or a car payment, or student loans, or all three! This is life, for better or for worse. I guess we all just need to take it one day at a time and really evaluate what's important, and what can wait for when times get better.