Re utilities: Another way to save on them is to avoid renting from landlords who can’t be fussed to update windows and other potential “leak” spots in the building. I spent four years in an apartment where we had to seal the windows every winter, there was so much draft coming in. Of course that in itself was dangerous; we couldn’t air out the apartment from fall to spring, and it would have been hard to get out the window had the building been on fire. Since we’ve moved I’ve had to run a space heater in our bedroom one night so far. It’s awesome.

Re the yard sale economy: Look for more people to complain about eBay soon. It’s getting a lot harder to sell there for the new person just starting out. You’re favored in search results now if you have a certain amount of history with them. Yard sales are still cheaper, but of course if you don’t *have* a yard, you are kind of out of luck and must look at online options. Etsy, however, is a great deal if what you’re trying to sell is crafty in nature–you must have made the item or must be selling supplies or vintage items.

It depends on what type of fireplace you have. Some are created just for appearances which can suck heat out of your house especially if you don’t keep a roaring fire. For the past 3 years we heated our entire house with a wood burning stove. The furnace would only turn on when it got below 0 outside and the stove couldn’t keep up. I liked teasing people out my $50 gas bill (gas stove, dryer, & water heater) when others were paying $200-350. You can get inserts for most fireplaces that even have blowers. This is a great way to save a few bucks if you have a fireplace originally designed only for having a romantic fire on a saturday night.

http://renaissancetrophywife.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/green-nesting/

Some programmable thermostats avoid the problem of using backup heating by starting the heating a little early, and only running the normal heat to get back to the target temperature in time for you to get home.

I don’t have any research to back it up, but I believe the fireplace design can affect where the air comes from that is burned, and thus whether more warm air is consumed than created.

Interesting about the heat pump. My coworkers and I were just discussing the merits (or faults) of programmable thermostats. Several of the older ladies with larger houses don’t agree that turning your heat way down at night makes a big difference because of the energy it takes to reheat your home in the morning. I’d like to see some experiments with the different methods of temperature control.

Right now I am trying to keep our house set at a low, consistent temperature, then we supplement with our wood stove when we feel we must. I can say that my body is adjusting because my husband caved in and turned the heat up this morning and I was roasting.

What you are saying is right, of course, but when you have an inflated economy, and people who have overspent and overspent, there must be time for some adjustment. It hurts, of course–esp. for the person who didn’t save anything for the hard times.

But never fear, Tyler, most people “out there” will not have the self discipline to save. I live in a former communist country where people tell me they used to have money. Now they have no money. Why did they used to have money? Because there was nothing to buy in the stores. Buying a major appliance meant being on a waiting list for sometimes up to years! Now things, and credit are readily available. People often have no money….but plenty of things. They look back on the days when they had “money” but can’t seem to remember WHY they had money.

It does take a lot of self discipline to see the “stuff” available and walk past it, even as it beckons you to touch it, buy it, and take it home with you.

Some people are programmed to be able to take risk, including bankruptcy without even batting an eyelash. Others can’t sleep at night.

For those who care for more peace of mind, use less, spend less, etc. Maybe that mentality won’t make for the “biggest economy” but maybe we’d be more calm and live with less haste and less pressure.

We already know that if “everyone did” things like shop yard sales or goodwill, or used craig’s list, the good things would be impossible to find. However, we know that “everyone won’t”. So, those who care can do it and everyone else can go on with their lives like normal, spending at the mall, buying more things that can end up at their next yard sale.

When I was recently in the US, I considered myself “helping the economy” when I did something that wasn’t necessary, like going out to eat, or buying a pair of slippers that I just wanted but didn’t “need” yet because my others aren’t worn out. Sounds good, huh?

On the “individual scale” side of things, tho, most people should think more about their own personal finances instead of trying to “help the economy”.

But, IMO, most people won’t willingly “do without” if they don’t have to.

Will it really be bad for everyone or will it just be bad for a bit? Hopefully (like JD) those people who have been saving will end up spending money on the things they want, they will just pay with cash rather than taking on debt for it. And maybe since less money is going towards paying interest on debt, people will be more apt to buy the things they’d like. But I’m no economist (nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night) so I’d be curious to know your thoughts.

Meanwhile, the guy who makes hot tubs wanted to buy a new television, but with the decrease in hot tub purchasing, he can’t afford to…. etc.

People rarely talk about it, but the economy really isn’t based on money. It’s based on the exchange of goods and services. If people stop wanting goods and services, then people will stop making them, and no one will have any. Money is just an abstract idea that makes this exchange more convenient, but the fact is that you can’t survive solely with savings. Savings allows people to shift around the time periods in which they redeem their goods and services for the goods and services they themselves produced (maybe decades later), but the fact of the matter is that we’re dependent on goods being manufactured.

Presume for a moment that everyone in the US had substantial savings. It sounds great, doesn’t it? It’s not inherently bad, but think of the situation in which everyone just decides to retire and live off their savings. It’s impossible – everyone would starve to death, because no one would be doing any farming. Then they’d all freeze to death, because no one was producing any heating oil or electricity.

Certainly, this is a contrived extreme example, and would never actually happen in real life, but it’s just to illustrate that slowing down production on a large scale by refusing to purchase things and instead saving money isn’t necessarily a good thing.

J.D, Oregon in the fall is beautiful! I’ve been to OU and OSU for away football games (when I was at Cal), and the bus ride was always spectacular. Good times =)