How has the economy affected you personally? -Ranting/Blowing off stress-

[xxManBeaterxx]

My entire family has jobs that run entirely on a good economy. My dad does interier cabinet making (there are no more jobs, people have no money), my mom works for the bank and after 35 years (she will be getting laid off soon) and they are 55 years old, its hard to find a new job at that age. My husband is a real estate agent, and no one is buying, and everyone is foreclosing to the bank, if he doesnt sell i have a 32,000 dollar student loan to pay not including i need an additional $64,000 by the time i graduate in 2 1/2 years, and our morgage is 1,600 a month but we are renting right now to this couple for 1,200 we have a 6 month lease with them, but earlier this month they contacted me and said they can no longer pay rent and they need to cancel the lease because her husband got laid off, so i cant just say no... plus my daughter is going to turn 4 on october 2nd, shes getting older things are getting more expensive.

I'm going to be homeless soon at the rate this is going. Im also a student, only my 2nd year in pharmacy school, i can't work because school takes up 70 hours a week, and im in a different state than my daughter and husband because of where my school is located, so my husband rents out our condo, and lives with my parents and grandma right now so someone can help take care of my daughter while hes working, i know it sounds selfish, but pharmacists make damn good money and when i graduate i will take good care of my parents for everything they've done.

My brothers are electrical engineers and they work for a private company who is currently going bankrupt. Honestly, im going to have to quit pharmacy school at this rate, or i can loose everything. And my family cant chip in because they are all in trouble themselves... why..?!? how..?!? sigh... how did the economy get this bad..!! we dont live pay check by pay check since hes been working as an agent for 5 years, and we dont spend foolishly but we had comfortable lives, but we cant just keep delepeting our savings...

 

[SparklingWaves]

Oh, yes! I had a thread touching on this. Since that that thread, I have seen many companies around my area go out of business. Two days ago a woman on a bicycle came knocking on my door asking for work. She claimed that she would do "anything" for cash. Last night, I had a woman asking for change from me at drugstore. She promised that she wouldn't blow my head off. On my way home, I had male and a female hooker trying to flag my car over. I am seeing more and more of them with their children in tow.

Yep, everything has gone up on our bills. Working harder and earning less.

 

[pink_lily002]

I'm lucky enough to be in an area with relatively affordable housing, and thankfully my bills are low enough that I can afford everything on my own. I do live paycheck to paycheck, which definitely sucks when bills are all due at the same time and I have a very small amount of money to get me through a week or two weeks, but I've been trying to do everything in my power to keep myself afloat. I'm lucky too in that the company I work for isn't closing down any of its stores. In fact, the store I work in is doing the best in the entire district, mostly because we're located in an actual mall and not a normal outlet mall that only does business during the peak summer season. I'm definitely lucky, and I hope that things start to get better for you and your family soon! I've actually heard people in my store say "I shouldn't be buying this stuff, I have to pay my rent/mortgage." That really frightens me because I think a place to live is a thousand times more important than having a new outfit. But obviously, not everyone feels that way. This recession needs to end NOW.

 

[Willa]

The situation is very hard
My man works for himself as an investor...
We just bought the condo, and I'm the only one who brings money in for sure. He does make money, but you know how it is right now... I was thinking about changing job, but for now I'm going to take it cool because I have security, they can't really throw me out because I've been here for 2 years ½...
The situation is very stressfull.
I'm sure you're going to make the best decision, whatever you choose (stay in school or not).
I live in Canada, we're not in recession, for now...
But we can feel it.
I'm used to buy stuff here and there, for no reason other than because I want to treat myself, but for the next months I'm going to have to ''slack on'' this bad habit if I want to keep a little money.

Sending you all good vibes

 

[nursee81]

It's definitely hard times now I work in a hospital thats has had empty bed the last couple of weeks which is scary. B/c we never have empty beds. I am hoping it was b/c of the hurricanes that just passed by s fl.

 

[miss_cinday]

seriously! i graduated earlier this year and have been job hunting for the past two months. i've gone on five interviews and have yet to be offered a position. it should have been easy for me to find a job even with the little experience i have because of the degree i received. before the economic downturn i would have received several offers but it seems they are looking to candidates with several years of experience and higher levels of education. i would want to go back to school but cant afford it because every year for the past 5 years tuition in my state has been raised and i have someone i support financially. with the downturn of the economy its been seriously difficult. i havent been able to buy makeup in six months, omg i so need a fix!
my mother is also nearing defaulting on her home loan. she was pretty much scammed into locking in an adjustable rate mortgage and not fully understanding how it worked,was told shes only needed to pay the smallest amount of her mortgage but that just raised her loan higher each month. now her mortgage loan is higher than what she took out so her payments are constantly getting higher each month. its horrible, shes hoping to sell but she will def lose over 100,000 which she wont even be able to pay back.

 

[Beauty Mark]

Groceries. Food is f'ing expensive. I don't eat expensively, but wow, I'm feeling it.

My fiance is struggling to get a job. He's bright, and even more than being bright, he can program computers. I'm still dumbstruck why he can't get a job. That affects me because I'm sad for him, but it's also preventing us from moving in together.

I don't know if this is a direct result of the economy, but science is feeling it, too. Europe may be celebrating the LHC turn on, but the labs in the US have faced serious cuts in jobs because of a lack of money.

 

[PMBG83]

I feel all you ladies,I mean seriously this is no joke! How it ever got this way...

 

[NicksWifey]

Well besides gas being a pain in the ass to buy, I hear you guys on groceries and eating out. Groceries are pretty ridiculous though and I always shop with coupons or shop at stores where I'm a member of a savings club or something, like at Food Lion, how they have the MVP program. We don't eat out too often, but sometimes I feel like a bunch of shitty fast food will be cheaper than groceries.

At work, since I work in the maintenance department of the hospital, we pay a lot of the hospital's utility bills. Our electric bill was nearly $6,000 last month. We are are on the town's electric/heat/water/sewage, but they had some $1,200 fuel charge, which I don't know how they can charge since we go through the town for all of our utilities and it's not like someone can transport the electricity in a truck lol

Oddly, at home which the electric bill has been going up, the water/sewage bill was high and now it's been dropping.

There are so many people I know that are unable to find jobs now, especially those who work in construction and other forms of manual labor.

 

[TISH1124]

Financially we are good..Not great .. I make a good living and my husband owns a couple of businesses...They are doing good but not as great as they were a year ago. It just kills me when I go to the grocery and see milk at $5.00 and a loaf of bread over $3.00 ...It only makes me think how much more will we have to pay just to live. I want even touch on gas...Because I now drive a whole lot less than I used to...If I don;t have to go I normally don't. If gas keeps going up...people will basically just be working to buy gas..What does that accomplish towards their living expenses..Nothing. People are quitting their jobs just because it is cheaper in the long run to stay home. CRaZZEEEyyy

 

[reverieinbflat]

I've been a server for about three years, since I graduated highschool. And I can tell you that there is no money in serving right now, none. People aren't tipping, because they don't have the money for it. I regularly receive three bucks on fifty dollar checks, and it's not because I'm a bad server. I'm a really good server. I currently work at Chili's, and made more money at IHOP where I worked for two years (I switched to Chili's after being fed up with management at IHOP, right before the economy started to tumble).

The whole service industry is crumbling. I had money in the bank, now I'm three months behind on my car payment and on the verge of defaulting on my credit card. My income has literally been cut in half.

Many people are saying it's not that bad, and it's not, if you are able to cut a few corners to save money, but I was cutting corners before. 3/4s of the money I make in a week goes to groceries and gas. That leaves me with about $60 to go in the bank, and I'm not even driving the car I can't afford anymore because it needs new rims (long story).

I want to sell the car and get a small loan to cover the remainder of the balance, but I fear I won't be able to sell, or not be able to get the loan because my credit has gone so much in the shitter.

I remember reading an article that people that depend on tips are getting the worst of the ecomonic slump. Well, I believe it.

 

[Tinkee-Belle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reverieinbflat I've been a server for about three years, since I graduated highschool. And I can tell you that there is no money in serving right now, none. People aren't tipping, because they don't have the money for it. I remember reading an article that people that depend on tips are getting the worst of the ecomonic slump. Well, I believe it.

I HEAR YA! I am in Canada so its not as bad, but I notice the bars being ALOT quieter everywhere. At my bar last night, about half the tables were empty, and a year ago it was impossible to get a table on a friday night. I got cut after 2 hours because it just wasnt busy enough. People are just drinking at home now because they dont have enough money. I think Canadas economy is still pretty good but we do so much business with the US that we feel it too. My dads company (he ships industrial equipment) has tons of work still (with Canadian contracts), but most of his American contracts do not have any work at all and are risking bankrupcy. It is so sad!

 

[Beauty Mark]

Quote:

I've been a server for about three years, since I graduated highschool. And I can tell you that there is no money in serving right now, none. People aren't tipping, because they don't have the money for it. I regularly receive three bucks on fifty dollar checks, and it's not because I'm a bad server. I'm a really good server. I currently work at Chili's, and made more money at IHOP where I worked for two years (I switched to Chili's after being fed up with management at IHOP, right before the economy started to tumble).

Although I don't believe tipping is something everyone deserves (I know people argue with that, but shitty service doesn't deserve a tip), I think it's BS to not tip because of your finances. When I go out, I expect to tip unless something awful happens at the meal.

I hate sounding like a jerk or being judgmental, but if I'm dropping $50 on a meal, I could probably spare $5-10. And if I didn't want to, I'd go to Subway or Chipotle or some place where I don't have to tip

 

[MACATTAK]

^^ I totally agree. If you have the money to eat out at a restaurant, you should always be prepared to leave a tip (unless like you mentioned the service was bad)

 

[xStarryEyedX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reverieinbflat I've been a server for about three years, since I graduated highschool. And I can tell you that there is no money in serving right now, none. People aren't tipping, because they don't have the money for it. I regularly receive three bucks on fifty dollar checks, and it's not because I'm a bad server. I'm a really good server. I currently work at Chili's, and made more money at IHOP where I worked for two years (I switched to Chili's after being fed up with management at IHOP, right before the economy started to tumble). The whole service industry is crumbling. I had money in the bank, now I'm three months behind on my car payment and on the verge of defaulting on my credit card. My income has literally been cut in half. Many people are saying it's not that bad, and it's not, if you are able to cut a few corners to save money, but I was cutting corners before. 3/4s of the money I make in a week goes to groceries and gas. That leaves me with about $60 to go in the bank, and I'm not even driving the car I can't afford anymore because it needs new rims (long story). I want to sell the car and get a small loan to cover the remainder of the balance, but I fear I won't be able to sell, or not be able to get the loan because my credit has gone so much in the shitter. I remember reading an article that people that depend on tips are getting the worst of the ecomonic slump. Well, I believe it.

My boyfriend is a waitor at an upscale restaurant and he says the same thing... They don't automatically put 18% on the bill unless it's a party of 8 or more, so people go in and he's lucky if he gets 10%. Some people are even sneaky and they'll be super nice to his face then leave NOTHING (or next to it).. I could never do what you guys do... I would end up fired on my first night for tapping people on the shoulder and bitching them out.. Yes, it's retarted that restaurants don't pay their waitors...But deal with it, if you can't afford to tip then don't go out to eat. Did you see that article that said one of the top ways to save money was to only tip 10% when eating out... That's disgusting..People are awful, they know waitors need tips to make money and they leave 5-10%... Jerkoffs. And trust me, it's not at all a poor area where he works.