How to be poor?

[Grant H.]

Good timing on this thread.

My employer (Space/Defense) has recently made the move to mandatory "Jab" (they aren't vaccines), or DAILY testing/Mask when in the office, so we will see how long my job lasts. The international travel portion of my job is pretty much shot given that lots of foreign countries are requiring a jab to get in now. Thankfully I am mostly WFH, with a little HQ time, and my boss appears to be willing to work with me to transition to a less travel, more HQ/Home based role on the team. But, I am not hopeful that my career at this company will extend past the next 6-24 months. I will play their mask/testing game as long as I can be 80%+ WFH, and continue to collect my check/benefits/etc, and then peace the hell out when it gets past the point I am willing to tolerate.

My wife and I were talking about our finances and future plans in regard to all of this just last night. I am the majority income for our DINK household, and it would suck to lose my salary, but we are actually pretty well positioned if that happened.

We have no major debt beyond our house. The couple small debts that are still tagging along are going to get paid off in the next 30-90 days.
We have an anniversary trip planned for this fall that we are going to take.
We have a couple projects around the house in work that are consuming our expendable income right now (all DIY to save on labor, but spending some of the savings on nicer/better parts pieces)

Once our anniversary trip is done, and the projects are wrapped up, we will be "battening down the hatches" for a while, and see where this all goes.

As for tightening the proverbial belt:
Stop eating out - We actually eat out a lot right now, but we are both capable of cooking and happy to eat left overs. Meal plan, make large batches and eat it for 2-3 days, or freeze and reheat later.
Sell the extra car - We have 3 cars and my motorcycle right now. We are selling the 3rd car. The bike doesn't cost enough to insure/drive to be worth selling, but registering/insuring/maintaining 3 cars adds up.
Sell the extra stuff - Everyone has too much stuff anymore. Sell the excess that you don't need or use.
Cut out extra expenses - Add on subscriptions to HBO, ESPN, etc... We have and use Netflix and Prime. We currently have Hulu (promo for a year at $1/mo), but will cancel it when that runs out. Similar deal with Disney+. Talking to a buddy of mine, he spends $250/mo on streaming with add on packages (HBO, Starz, etc). Youtube is free. Netflix is cheap etc...
Stop watering the grass - If things really do get tight for folks, stop watering the grass. Water bills are expensive, and green grass is generally a waste. Water a garden instead (less water, and you get a return on that investment). If you have an HOA, well, then you have to deal with those asshats, but you bought there...
Look through your recurring auto-charges - Seriously. Look at what gets auto-charged each month to a card. What of that can be cancelled?

The list goes on and on.

Something that Irving touched on, but I went a little further with, is solar. Offgrid solar systems to power critical infrastructure (fridge, freezer, furnace, etc). Doesn't have to be a massive system, but I shaved $40-50/mo off my electric bill and I don't have to worry about power outages and a freezer full of expensive meat. Most grid tie systems (Sunrun, Namaste, etc) won't run power anything without the grid being present, and are overpriced.

Edited to add:

On the sell extra stuff one, if you have a storage unit that you are paying to store stuff... Why? What is in there that you can't get rid of and save that $50-500/mo?