Essay by

The author’s husband is a federal employee. Courtesy of the author

2025-11-07T15:26:07Z

• My husband and I are both military veterans, with over 50 years of service between us.
• He has also been a government civil servant for a decade and is not getting paid during the shutdown.
• We’re not going to lose our home, but we’ve had to adjust our budget to help us weather the shutdown

Most of our family’s income comes from federal funds.

My husband and I both have military retirement checks, and he’s a federal civilian. Our retirement pensions are not affected by the government shutdown, but my husband’s paycheck is. We’re on day 37 without his income, and honestly, it’s surreal.

While our retirements and my job will get us through, the loss of a paycheck has prompted some adjustments in our spending. I pared down our grocery spending earlier this year when DOGE and cutting government jobs were the hot items in the news.

Here’s what else I’ve done to reduce spending and give us a bigger financial cushion, which helps keep my anxiety from totally taking over.

We’ve cut subscription services

I’ve cut most of our subscriptions from newspapers to streaming to meal kits. I’ve kept a few that make sense for now, such as Walmart+, which offers free Paramount+ and discounted gas.

Canceling a monthly subscription has a more immediate impact than canceling an annual plan, but I’ve also cut a few of those. If we have to tighten up further, I won’t be surprised if I get a renewal charge I wasn’t expecting.

Personal care expenses

Haircuts, manicures, and dry cleaning aren’t happening right now. We might look a little shaggy for a while, and I’ve been covering my gray roots with touch-up spray or telling myself I don’t care. When I ran out of body wash, I pulled out a bar of fancy-smelling soap someone gave me for Christmas and popped it in my shower.

And no, we aren’t to the point where we can’t afford soap, but I’m in frugal mode and questioning every dollar I spend. It makes me feel in control, although I know I’m not.

I’ve instituted shopping bans

We’ve paused all unnecessary shopping. While we are not extravagant, we don’t typically analyze our Amazon purchases to the nth degree. We are now.

The “Murphy’s Law” phenomenon, where something terrible happens when other things are going wrong, is a real phenomenon. An appliance broke during the third week of the shutdown. My husband was able to make the repair himself, and while the $200 part was a bit of a pinch, I eased up on other purchases, making it seem not so bad.

My kids are getting free school lunches

Ordinarily, we do not qualify for these benefits, but our state has made funds available for free school breakfasts and lunches for families affected by the shutdown.

I hesitated to apply for this, but in reality, I have no idea how long this will last. An estimated $25 a week of our overall grocery budget goes toward items for our kids’ lunchboxes.

I’m more diligent about meal planning

Earlier this year, I made a conscious effort to become more diligent about meal planning and reducing food waste. I also worked with my teens to manage expectations on treats and impulse purchases. I try not to make this their burden, but they know what’s up.

I’ve been able to cut food expenses more by buying less expensive cuts of meat and using up what we have on hand. I’ve always stocked up during sales so we can coast for a bit on what’s already in the pantry and freezer.

What we’ve kept

We’ve opted to keep our kids’ extracurricular activities in place. Both of my kids are athletes, and for us, that means fees for sports equipment, tournaments, and coaching. They’re in high school, and the skills they’re building now will impact how they approach college sports, so it’s essential that they maintain the momentum.


Jill Robbins

We haven’t canceled our winter vacation, which was paid for before the shutdown became imminent. We’ve decided not to argue with the cruise line in favor of a refund, and we’ve discussed strategies for minimal spending while we’re on our trip. I’d rest easier if that money were back in our bank account, but I’m choosing to focus on the benefit of family downtime and bonding.

And, thanks to a stash of gift cards we’ve stockpiled, we’re able to have the occasional meal out. Aside from travel, we don’t eat in restaurants often, so it’s nice to have this little cache of treats. We didn’t plan to hoard our gift cards for a rainy day, but the fact that we saved them is serendipitous.

We are trying not to run up our credit card bills

We’re more fortunate than many. Not getting my nails done or buying a whole chicken instead of boneless breasts might seem like a first-world problem, and I get that.

We’re trying to do our best through this shutdown without running up a credit card bill we can’t handle later or dipping into our savings. We’ve worked hard all our lives to build savings and good credit. Just because we have those things as a buffer doesn’t mean that the shutdown doesn’t hurt us.

I could have purged my paid apps any time, and there was nothing stopping me from cleaning out my bathroom cupboard and using my gift soaps and leftover toiletries from hotels.

Right now, I’m leaning forward to do what little things I can to keep more of my money in the bank, which makes me feel more secure.

• Essay
• Parenting

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