We haven't had to give up on anything yet... I have gotten a lot better at buying when things are on sale and stocking up. As for snacks, which many consider a luxury, I have cut back dramatically what we used to buy because both DH and I are on diets and don't need it anyway.

I haven't really given anything up- I always buy on sale and with coupons- plus they double here so that make it easier (double up to 1 dollar) I can usually get a 130 dollar bill down to about 50 bucks-
I plan meals around what we have in the house and what is on sale...
we buy meat like beef from a farmer- a 1/8 of beef- about 90 lbs for 180 bucks- plus soup bones
I do not waste anything
the only real fancy thing i buy is olives sometimes from Wegmanns- they are 6.99 a lb... it is a treat though about every two months mostly though cause i have high blood pressure .....and i dont need the salt

Well I have pretty much quit buying anything organic, especially milk and eggs. It's not that I don't want to buy it, but we just can't afford to pay the prices for those things right now. I have also stopped buying steak and shrimp, unless I find them for a VERY good price! I haven't really quit buying alot of things, but I am now trying more store brands/generic items and using coupons when possible. I have also begun going to the Dollar General and Family Dollar for alot of household stuff, it's cheaper than our local grocer store.

I've been cooking most of our meals from scratch the past several months so I'd have to say we've given up eating most pre-packaged foods. What big cost savings for us, plus it's healthier and tastes better.

I'm not sure that qualifies as a "luxury" item, but with the cost of some of those meals now, I'd say it was a luxury!

I've also given up expensive cleaning products and use things like vinegar, borax and baking soda when I clean or do laundry.

Well I don't buy shrimp now! LOL If I want shrimp I go to Red Lobster! I haven't given up what I normally buy, in fact I've been buying nice more expensive items so we aren't tempted to go out to eat as much since we have great food at home. But eating out is our weakness, so that helps us save money in the long run. We still go out at least once a week-I can't go without PF Changs for too long!

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

We definately have given up lux. items! I used to love to buy creamer for my coffee - steak once a week (atleast every other) but I cannot tell you the last time we had steak. Even something simple like deli cheese! DD is a chocolate milk-aholic, but I have given up buying hershey's syrup & I make it myself. In some ways, giving up the lux. items are also keeping us healtier!

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"I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them." ~ Phyllis Diller

Yes & No. We have not completely given up luxury items but we have them less often. On a regular basis I try to substitute one thing for another. For example I will make beef strogonoff with ground beef instead of surloin.

When we have people over I also try to keep it more simple and spend less overall.

In general we eat less meat and I try to cook from scratch has much has possible.

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Marie - SAHM of DS Benjamin (april 2004) and DD Rose (march 2006).

I gave up what most people consider luxury items looong ago. I have always been a frugal grocery shopper. I have been shopping alot at Aldi's and that saves me a ton. Thank goodness one opened around here last year!! We rarely eat steaks, or seafood of any kind. I buy cheap hamburger and rinse it. I buy the bags of chicken breasts when they go on sale.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I stopped buying a lot of what some would consider luxury items when I stopped working. The steaks I stopped buying just b/c they were just so fatty. I tried to switch us over to store brand diet coke but my husband revolted. his words: "why are you buying the cheap stuff...I make plenty of money for us to buy the real stuff (diet pepsi)." Yes, we make plenty of money to buy a lot of the things but that doesn't mean we have to buy them. He rarely complains about groceries so I'll give him his Diet Pepsi. As for shrimp, I only bought that when it went on sale. We can easily eat 2 pounds for dinner so that's around $12 just for the shrimp. I can go down to my grandmothers and get it off the boat for a quarter of the price...but that's a 3 hour drive and it just doesn't work out money-wise unless I'm heading down to see her anyway.

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Jenny, wife to Brad, mommy to two crazy little kids with one on the way!

My biggest change was not eating out and cooking at home. It is better on our pocket books and I think it is better for us. I also do not cook a lot of prepackaged stuff anymore either. We do not eat a lot of red meat anymore. I am trying to watch cholesterol and my weight. I tend to buy at bulk at the wear house stores and vacuum pack my meat. It tends to be much cheaper and often the meat is just as good or better than the grocery stores.