How badly is the economic recession affecting your household?

[Onlooker]

Poll question: How badly is the economic recession affecting your household?

(Yes, I realize this has probably been asked in one form or another already several times, but a quick search didn't turn up anything.)

[juno jones]

1. We are living on savings.

If we have to live on the thousand or so I bring home a month....hahhahahaahhah!

[chemp]

2. Nervous

my job is secure, though I was forced to lay off about twenty people, and forgo any merit increase this year, which usually just offsets the increase in healthcare.
My wife, who makes three times as much as I do has 1200 laid of from her company in November. Corporate wanted her out, but her boss saved her. (they were going to fire a woman for poor work in October, and my wife suggested hanging on to her in case of lay offs. Bye bye birdie!) Now the comany is threatening more for March. There are only three in her department, so they may liquidate it all together.
without my wife's salary, and only my meager one, things could get tough very quickly.

[hobbit709]

3. Vacation! What's that?

We go out a LOT less often, The only time we've gone out of town in the last 5 years has been for funerals. I use cheaper ingredients when cooking, don't buy any new clothes until necessary. My wife's car needs work but it will have to wait.

[cabluedem]

7. Skimping on vehicle work is poor choice. Things tend to get worse fast and cost more. nt

[hobbit709]

15. It's sitting in the driveway until we have the $400 it will take.

So now we are sharing my truck. If it wasn't for the $375/mo my wife has to shell out for her COBRA because her new job is only 30 hrs/wk so no benefits, we'd be able to fix it. I'm at least getting my medical from the VA.

[cabluedem]

26. Whats wrong with the car? Perhaps I can advise you. nt

[Earth_First]

4. For the most part, little has changed...

In a sense, we're used to doing more on less this time of year as every December I become seasonally unemployed (not collecting benefits) until April 1. So at the time being, we're doing alright. What I worry about is not getting called back exactly on April 1 as I plan every year, and when/if I do go back on that date, the amount of work that will actually be available.

I'm in the landscape construction business. I just don't see the demand for high-end hardscapes i.e. sidewalks, driveways, outdoor living spaces, courtyards, et. al being there this year.

There's always the rumor mill around the office, and word has it that we've only lined up two jobs this spring. Generally, we're booked through mid-June by this time of the year.

So yeah...

[BlueJazz]

5. I do Computer Repair and system IT stuff so I'm not hurt (Yet) by all the crap that's going down.

I consider myself very fortunate ...

[Vinca]

6. I guess I'm an "other."

We're beginning to rebound a little after the worst 2 years of our 35 years of marriage. My husband appraises real estate and has been shut out during the shady lending years. They didn't want appraisals. Hell . . . they didn't even care if there was a house on the lot. We had about a month last summer with no business at all. Zero. Anyhow, the mortgage crisis has caused some sanity to prevail and the orders are beginning to trickle in. Now if we could just get healthcare.

[Coexist]

8. I went from SAHM, working PT during school hours

to working full-time. Hubby is in construction, so we're nervous, but he just began a multi-year project, so we're semi-secure on a temporary basis.

My job is actually in a growing industry, but I make a fraction of what he does.

So I guess we're nervous.

[trof]

9. Gave up 'luxuries' long ago. Now we're cutting smaller things.

Trying to make it in retirement on S/S and a small pension.
No 'disposable' income so no impulse buying or "Honey, I'm going out shopping".

When we go to the grocery store, we don't buy, we shop. Compare prices and labels. Buy more generic/store brands, fewer name brands.
However, we're still trying to support local farmers' markets although prices are usually a bit higher than chain groceries.

We almost never eat out or go to a movie.
Or even rent one any more.

And no more running into town for a loaf of bread (15 miles away).
We wait until there are several stops to make before we leave home. Many days we don't get off the lot except for our morning 3 mile walk.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

10. both of us are unemployed, through no fault of our own

lay off, job elimination.

We will be ok, at least thru the summer, mainly because we had a savings account and did not abuse credit cards (FU chuck Todd). We basically just trimmed the budget down to the bone.

That isn't to say I don't lay awake at night worrying about the future, I mean if nothing has turned up in the past six month, why would something turn up in the next six months. I don't think I have slept a full 6 hours straight since this nightmare began in July.

[cosmik debris]

11. I'm retired and I've lost 30% of my retirement savings

That means I have to live 30% cheaper or die 30% sooner.

Or maybe split the difference.

[stray cat]

12. I still rent, I still have a job, I still can't save for retirement or a house

the main thing so far is to wipe out my 401K and further compromise my employer - a Med School.

[ThomWV]

13. Retired and lost savings galore, but I've never had to tap them so I'm not worried

I managed to save a bit of money during my working life, enough that I felt secure retiring early. I've been retired now just about 5 years and I have never had to dip into my now-depleted savings. Because all of it is tied up in funds that are share-based I still have the same number of shares as when I retired but they are worth less. Sooner or later they will return to their past value and as long as I don't cash any in before then I haven't lost anything,

[booksenkatz]

14. Big Three white collar household here... 'nuff said. NT

[slackmaster]

16. Cutting back on things like going out to eat, but the full scope of the effect is much larger

Lack of meaningful pay increases over the last five years have stagnated some of my long-term plans for home improvement, like going solar, and stifled my rate of retirement savings.

The only bright spot is that the value of my gun collection has probably doubled in the last two years, without growing in size.

[MostlyAmused]

17. It's pretty frightening, but even fear is a luxury at this point.

I chose "facing a crisis," though we're not really facing going broke... we are broke. My (only) savings account currently has twenty seven cents in it. I don't believe I have any actual equity in my home at this point. Many self-employed people have been pinched for quite some time now -- I had to drop our health insurance two years ago because it had become unaffordable. Our family was already recovering from a succession of tragedies including the death my ex-husband (who left no estate to provide for the children) before this tsunami hit. My formerly very good credit is shot.

Like a lot of people, I never expected to be in this position. After my divorce, I bought a house that was a bit small for us in a safe neighborhood, that cost much less than I pre-qualified for, and I insisted on a fixed mortgage. I drive a ten-year old car. No flat screen TV, no cable. Vacations have always been rare. We don't shop a lot. We've never had an extravagant lifestyle.

So far we still have a roof over our heads, food on the table, some gas in the tank, and I feel very fortunate for that. Every day means starting from zero, but I have some skills and am adaptable, which may trump having a little money in the bank these days. The upside is that since I'm self-employed, I don't face losing a job, just losing sales and clients I can try to replace. I have an optimistic, creative mindset, and I may continue to find ways to maneuver through until things improve.

But it's like outrunning an avalanche -- even one tiny mis-step could be fatal, and the longer it goes on, more the odds of a slip rise.

[firehorse]

18. My partner got laid off.

He worked for an off broadway show in NYC for 10 years and he also worked in catering. The show laid him and many others off, and since catering mostly provides for corporations and they aren't spending he has about one day of work a week now.

I'm a self employed jewelry designer, and business is bad. Half of my retail stores closed, or they stopped buying altogether.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Best to you and your partner

Hard times for the arts indeed.

[SmileyRose]

19. I don't consider a 2nd job an economic crisis

IMHO an economic crisis is when there are no jobs and no prospects and the Dept of Children's services has shown up at the door to take your kids away from you because the Water Dept called them when they came by to shut off the water.

[patrice]

20. Since 2000 My investments have been reduced by about half and my husband's cash

is now probably going down the drain because it's in one of those big mega-bank chains.

We're both over 60. We were doing ok before Bush. We're pretty much ruined now.

At least I have my job, but I have said that before and my job disappeared on 2 occasions. Took me almost 4 years to get re-employed the first time and a little over a year the second time.

[Mad_Dem_X]

22. Right now, we're doing okay (knock on wood)

DH and I both have full-time, good-paying jobs, and we have no children to take care of. But I worry about other members of my family, and other people I know who are having a hard time.

[dropkickpa]

23. I would say we're lucky

But we don't have luxuries like a car, vacations, owning my home, or other such things. I bargain shop, always have, have a small foot print environmentally, etc. My job is quite secure, and my rent went up just $10 this year (just re-signed my lease). I have almost no savings now, as costs have increased on groceries and other essentials and we had some costs come up this year that depleted them. Don't see when/how I'll be able to build anything of any signifigance back up again if things stay as they are.

[Kaleva]

24. poor before the recession: still poor now

[seabeyond]

25. i hit cutting back on perks though i could have voted everything fine. BUT

with prices escalating and no wage increase, we are saving less so we have become MORE (i have always been fiscally conservative)conservative in our spending.

so though we and others may have job security and be sittin fine, we are ALL effected by what is going on. 401k's college fund. cd interest not as high. that is all loss of money

[Nay]

27. Doing well--not affected-- but no thanks to the bastards who got

the country into this godawful mess!! Mr Nay and I lucked into decent jobs 10 and 15 yrs ago at very stable workplaces. We retire in 5 years or so. We have never gotten into debt except for the house, and it's about 4 yrs from being paid off. We have plenty of savings. All our furniture, cars, etc., were bought used. We eat out maybe once a month. For once, our thriftiness has paid off--god knows plenty of ppl we know who earn the $$ we earn (or less!) spent like crazy ppl over the past 10 years, and now they are paying the price.

[Avalux]

28. Laid Off last week; have some $ but it won't last long.

I need to find something comparable within the next 8 weeks or else.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. Right now, college is more of the immediate concern

There's some pain at the office, but mostly we're getting careful because for the next few years, we're going to be doing the equivalent of buying another house - without a mortgage.

But there are so many people we know already really hurting... It's scary. I don't like to think too much about it, actually.