Have you changed the way you spend money? Cut back on stuff? Lost your job?

At work…..

I was feeling pretty unaffected by this all until this past week. 3 very good friends of mine at our franchise HQ (Travel Leaders in Minnesota) got laid off.

The next morning, I came into work and my brother dragged my into his office. We are not in good financial shape and need to make some changes.

So this week, we will be meeting to discuss laying people off, taking a pay cut and cutting back to save money.

In our travel agency offices, office hours will be trimmed back and people will lose their jobs.

*sigh*

I hate this. These people are like family to me.

At home….

We didn't take a trip this winter to save in case the kids need our help with their tuition or living expenses. Plus we put on hold a project to remodel some rooms in our house.

Well, I lost my job, but it wasn't due to 'R', it's because my employer is a #!%^&*# a-hole.

But, I'm not having much luck on finding another position. Up until recently, I could just walk into any clinic in town and the dentist would hire me on the spot. Now, with industrial plants shutting down, and people unemployed without dental benefits, it's slowing down.

I have to actually do a resume and I'm not sure how! I better get on it, I think my termination will take affect end of April.

At home, I almost had to call 911 and start CPR when I last saw my financial advisor 2 weeks ago. Apparently 4 vacations in one year wasn't a smart thing to do. I kind of lived beyond my means in the last year. Depression makes me shop.

I feel bad for you David, hopefully your employees will understand and not burn your house down or anything (not that I thought about doing that to Dr. A-hole or anything :))

We were a little ahead of the curve with cutting back on spending at home.  A year ago we started a program called the Total Money Makeover (by Dave Ramsey) that promotes living debt free.  Between student loans, a wedding, and a trip to the hospital for one of our dogs, we had amassed too much debt.  We were doing okay, but we got sick of being in debt, so we made a change.  So far, so good.

At work, things are a little edgy right now.  Although we both work for a local government entity (health department), there is some concern about job loss.  I don't think the Mrs. or I are in danger of losing a job, but there will end up being some changes in job duties that may create some unhappiness.  That's still better than being unemployed, though.

I am thankful that I still have my job and my part time job…. but it has affected me still… trying to get assignments this year is much more difficult than last year and the schools are often not the ones would choose if I could…. the part time job is rough cause it is state funded care for the DD population and they have been seeing insane cuts to the budgets lately…. what concerns me is that the schools down here aren't far behind so the assignement hunt next year will be even worse….

I am also having to start searching for a third job just to try and keep up with my bills and I don't know how much luck I will have with that, especially since I don't have completely open availbility…. I am also *very* concerned about this summer as I don't know if I can get any extra work through Kelly Services with all the people already out of work

My retirement account lost a whole bunch of value.

I'm out about 100k on my 401k (no lie).

Does that make it a 301k now?

It just disappeared.  I pulled all the money out of the stock market.

I might get some cash (taking a 40% hit) and throw it at my morgage.  If the shit gets really bad, at least I'll have a place to live.

I feel pretty fortunate. My mom lost a shitload of money in the stocks - now we have no safety net, nothing liquid.

On the other hand, I got a job during the first round of layoffs for most people and it was a significant raise from my last position (over two years ago). At the same time, my part time job is exploding because I teach obedience classes - and people who would ordinarily want private sessions can't afford them so more demand for classes, I'm up to five a week - with a possibility of six in May.

Unfortunately, I have to find a way to pay for house repairs, and I think I'll have to take a loan out against my car - plus if we find out we owe the government tax money, we'll be pretty screwed.

I meant to add that my bf, who's in a managerial position at his work (an engineer), just found out last week that his company's cutting down their work week to 4 days for the next 8 weeks, then re-evaluating. Everyone's taking a pay cut. Kind of a sucker punch to watch someone so smart have to deal with this crap.

I have a lot of friends who are looking for work.

Hasn't so much affected things around here. In fact, Saskatchewan is one of the very few places where things are actually going well.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/04/saskatchewan.economy/index.html

Got any extra bedrooms, Dean?

Actually, NJ is usually pretty sheltered from the market.  It follows the ups and downs, but not nearly as extreme.  Even the housing market didn't fall too drastically (unfortunately for me).  I think it's because most of our industry is still a necessity.  We've had rumors of layoffs for a while but the only layoffs I've seen were right before the crash when we moved manufacturing out of state.

The average January temp is like 2.5 F.

That's witch tit cold.

For the first time in recent history, Louisiana is happy to be at the bottom of a list. Our housing market is relatively stable, most likely due to LA being one of the most in-transient states in America.

So far, personally, we're doing OK - considering that our income from the studio depends on the disposable income of our neighbors. When they do well, we do well… and we're doing well.

That should read "least transient"... maybe I should rethink the "teaching English" thing.

Back in December we made a public announcement that we were cutting 1000 jobs across the country. I knew several people who were let go but my own department has had the mixed blessing of being overwhelmingly understaffed for the last few years so the only thing that affected us was that we had to scrap plans to begin interviewing to fill two positions which we badly need.

Both of our 401ks have taken some huge hits but they'll eventually recover.

We're doing pretty well overall. All of the OT I've been bringing in due to the understaffing has helped us actually pay down some debt. That plus working at home and having more time to plan out meals and grocery shopping has saved us a ton of money so at the moment I can't complain.

I'm holding off on any major purchases for a while though with the exception of a couple of long overdue vacations which have been put off for too long. Need to recharge the ol batteries with some Las Vegas sunshine.

I read that Dean, maybe I should move, any dentist's hiring there that you know of? :)

And I forgot to mention to, I lost about 40 grand in my RRSP investments. Ouch. They will come back, eventually. Hopefully before I retire!

I'm finding myself starting to borrow from the next paycheck and I don't like it. As long as I pay just my bills, I'm fine…but then you count food and silly things like that, then it gets shaky. My pay seems to become less and less, when in actuality it's just everything going up in price around me…so we're starting to hurt a little. I'm even looking at realistically getting rid of the extras…as much as I hate the idea of getting rid of the cable, it's at the top of my list…*sigh* After that is the phone (since I have a cell) and net. Just depends on how things go, and they're just not going that good.

As far as the future, I'm secure in my job right now and what terrifies me is that in 5 months, I'll be leaving my very stable job, with *retirement*, decent benefits, vacation/sick days galore and going into the field of unemployment and unknown. I'm scared to death that I won't find a job when I move…I've never been without a job and now it's not just me, but a family. I don't want any extra strain to fall on him…and I've never been a moocher. So, scared shitless…

Nothing is different for us. Actually I feel pretty good because the deals are out there for those with cash to spend.

I am finding tremendous deals on goods and services because people need the business and will jump through hoops to be paid in cash.(for example…I am getting my entire house…and all furniture steam cleaned for $170….last time I had it done…3 years ago…it was $600…)

Of course the 401k is down BIG TIME…but that's something to just ride-out. We weren't going to be using it anytime soon anyway.

Luckily… Outback Steakhouse went private about 3 years ago…so our yearly distribution isn't based on the market anymore….they precalculated a fair market value when they went private…so we are locked-in on our returns.  I am glad that we got out when we did.

Of course restaurant sales are down (but only slightly)...again…I am thankful that Chip went from a partner/owner to working for a corporation when he did…. otherwise it could have affected us more.  His salary is the same regardless of what sales are.  He's too far up within the current company for it to affect him.

I'm kind of in the same boat as Glory…once all the bills are paid there isn't enough left for food or incidentals.  My rent just went up, as well as my electric bill, phone bill, etc., so the payraise I just got in January doesn't really amount to much.  I've thrown around the idea of dropping some of the non-essentials (like cable and landline phone) but keep talking myself out of it.  Right now, in my delicate state, I need my American Idol and Dollhouse fix to keep me sane.

No vacations planned, though that's been the case for many years.  I've still got to figure out what to do with the boys for the summer.  Taking them to CO to stay with my mom still looks like the most affordable option.  That's the closest I ever get to a vacation.

Fortunately, as a federal government employee my job and retirement are pretty secure, though that may change.  I work for a relatively small agency (in relation to other government agencies), in a job that is unique to me, so there really isn't much need to cut the fat…for now.  The Smithsonian could go back to a trust (primarily) agency, and I don't know what kind of effect that would have on the museums in general.  I honestly don't even care about my retirement right now, even though I know I should, since that's still *many* years away.

well..  thankfully we are both still employed and ok with all the bills, mortgage, etc. etc.  Part of me wishes that we didn't have the truck payment etc.. we would be much better.. lol

we are fortunate to have a very low mortgage, and only have 9 years left on it..

Basically.. I have tried to not spend stupidly.. asking if we really need that roast… pork chops, etc..  now.. trying to control my guy is another story.. I need to post his picture in the meat departments of the grocery stores with big words.. DO NOT LET THIS MAN BUY BEEF!!

Just really taking it day by day.. and soaping helps with the extra money for supplies and necessities…

I am thankful as we are fortunate…

K e-mailed me today to say that 50% of the people at his work had been let go. Said he could see tumbleweeds from his desk. Fortunately, he's a genius - so he's in the 50% who stayed.

This recession has hit us extremely hard - and it came about when we had so much other shit going on.  I think that things are getting better, but I'm still scared about the future.