How has the economy affected YOU?

**Trishagirl** · 02-21-2011, 01:58 PM

We lost alof of jobs in my area my dh was laid off for 9 months went back to school & govt paid for it!!! Had a hard time finding a permanent job was working 2 separate temp jobs then got laid of the perm job now he back to working at a temp job which he hopes to make as a perm job but he has far to travel. I got laid off of my job also & just found a job after 7 months off of work. My son also found a job locally too so that's great news! We made due in our circumstances by not eating out and stockpiling & couponing when we heard about the economic downfall. I'm so glad to be a part of this group I have learned so much and will continue learning more I'm sure.

**lovestolaugh** · 02-21-2011, 02:51 PM

We have been very fortunate compared to many people. My dh did get let go from his gov't job last May but quickly found another job within 3 weeks. Thank's to God and lot's of prayer! He received a huge compensation package that we used to pay off a lot of our credit card debt. When he lost his job it forced us to really cut back. We have been working Dave's plan for about 2 years now with steady progress. Thanks to the compenstation package we have increased the intensity of paying of our debt!

With that being said, I still have anxiety whenever I think about the "what if's" that could happen. I worry that we started Dave's plan too late and we won't get out of debt before something life changing happens. This anxiety has made me strenghthen my relationship with God! Through prayer and devotion I feel that we will be ok. I really don't understand how people with no faith in a higher being can get through life. I would be a basketcase without my faith!

What do I do to help? I pay my bills on time. I try and help other's in any way I can. I try to instill in my own children fianancial intelligence and never miss an opportunity to discuss finances with them. I don't ever want them to make the same mistakes their parents did!

**Maine Girl** · 02-21-2011, 03:03 PM

I am very fortunate that my job is stable, but with the economy i have tightened my belt so to speak. I am using coupons more and more for my groceries. With the increase of gas prices i have stopped doing grocery shopping at a superwalmart the next city over. I have stopped my weekend trips to goodwill. One of my biggest weakness is books i have not bought a book since the beginning of the year. I am reading what i have or stopping at the library. I do all this so i can keep within my $50 gas budget a month. Also just very aware of what i am spending my fun money on.

**divinemsn** · 02-26-2011, 08:22 PM

I am in wait and see mode. I work for the Feds and we are all waiting to see if we are going to be shut down in a week. My agency is making contingency plans for the lock-out. We are tightening our belt to see how long I am going to be out of work.

**Barn Princess Tonya** · 02-26-2011, 08:59 PM

My DH was making six figures about 7 years ago. Then one night he got a call that told him to be at the office at 9 AM. They called everyone and told them to be there then. They shut the office down. While we got a nice 'parachute', we rolled that and our savings into a new company doing basically what he was doing before. He went in with about 8 other co-workers, with DH being the majority stock owner and CEO.

They write software for the electrical utility industry. What saved our heinies the last 18 months has been the stimulus money. It was given to a bunch of utility companies who updated their software-a lot of it was terribly old and almost unreliable. But now that money has dried up and well, we're thinking we might have to close up shop in the next few weeks. It takes a municipality 18 months to go from asking about new software to implementing it and there's just not anything in the pipeline. Everyone wants to hold on to the old stuff as long as they can so they don't have to spend the money to update it.

DH is thinking that maybe he can get a job at one of the municipalities that he's installed software for, but that would involve moving. We just moved here 2 years ago and we're so underwater it's not even funny. We've been talking about how we'd do this and it looks like we'd move and let the bank foreclose on this house. I feel horrible about the whole situation, but we don't know what else to do. We live in a rural area and the chances of getting a job here are really slim. Even if we did find one there would be a ton of driving and with gas prices the way they are, we don't know if we can swing it.

**Sumacaroni** · 02-27-2011, 07:38 AM

My Mister's paychecks just keep shrinking due to increased health insurance premium costs, not to mention climbing deductibles and co-pays.

Fuel costs both for vehicles and home heating are consistently chipping away at the budget as they increase wildly.

And taxes..... oh, the property taxes alone! The value of our property is decreasing by 10's of thousands and yet property taxes increased over $1000 in the last two years. How does that even make sense? Not to mention the decreased services provided by our town's property taxes: no more garbage pickup - we had to contract a private company for that ($25/month); snow removal is less and less efficient and effective; the ditches rarely get mowed in the summer - only twice a summer in 2010; and those are only the main things I can think of that burden our budget personally.

And now, I am a state employee of Wisconsin and we face more changes as the government tightens the state budget. But being part-time, I don't get any health benefits and being part-time I already contribute more than 5.5% to the retirement system so I can only hope the changes don't dramatically change our family budget.

**wjcalderon** · 02-27-2011, 08:56 AM

I feel very blessed at the moment.
I've always lived pretty frugally.
I retired 4 years ago and had to tighten the belt a little.
A few weeks ago, my old boss (from the company where I worked for 24 years) called an offered me a part time job for a really good hourly rate. No interview necessary, just "if you want the job, you're hired."
I immediately thought of all the things I can do with the extra money - new bed for the guest room, hire someone to cut the grass so I can spend more time doing the "fun" gardening, etc.
Now that the money has actually started coming in, I really like the way it looks in my savings account balance, so I'm very hesitant to spend it!!

**mombottoo** · 02-27-2011, 09:52 AM

For us our income is pretty stable. But, with the cost of things rising the way it has it is getting harder and harder to make the money stretch as far as it used to.

Gasoline was $3.19 just the other day, now it's $3.49 that's a substantial jump and I see it going up even more. My concern isn't so much for my hubby & me, but for our adult children who are raising children and other couples like them. It has to be horrible to have to make the choices they have to on a daily basis.