Americans ... - Spin off of Canadians post

Mommy2Isabella wrote: Who here has felt the effect of the economy??

* Personally we haven't. DH has a government related job. Purchasing things for the government and military, like repainting Air Force One, he purchased all that paint. Anyways, so his job is secure, he actually just got a promotion. Though I have noticed a lot, since I am a SAHM, I normally do all the errand running during the day and the amount of people that used to go out to lunch has decreased DRAMATICALLY!!!

momofone replied: One thing i have noticed is more theft because of the economy in my area. Lock your doors everyone.

lovemy2 replied: Hasn't hit us much - my DH is a cop so he is safe and even if I did lose my job - in the accounting industry I have alot of legal experience too and would find something - it would tighten our belt but not dramatically.....

We are watching what we are spending a bit though - just to be on the safe side...

Calimama replied: Hasn't affected us monetarily one bit. In fact DH just got a pay increase. Emotionally it's affected us. It's hard to watch our friends and family struggle. Especially those people that have worked SO hard since they were SO young for the same company.. just to be laid off.

stella6979 replied: Yep. Jeff started a new job only to be let go 4 months later. He is working with me now, but took a HUGE paycut. We are now living paycheck to paycheck and it SUCKS!!

TheOaf66 replied: well day to day no real impact but saw my latest 401K statement


not so happy about that

coasterqueen replied: Personally, DH's pay was frozen this year, meaning no raise. Well, technically he got a $125 a month raise because he was promoted to Senior Associate, but he should have gotten that plus a normal pay raise. He has in the past when promoted.

Other than that the lower gas prices has been saving us a ton of money a month, well at least $200, maybe more a month. Dh deals with that, so I'm not real sure.

Our 401ks took huge hits and the girls college funds took MASSIVE hits. I'm more worried about the girls college funds than anything because we lost several years of earnings in ONE year

Otherwise, we aren't really hurting in the day to day stuff - just mostly our future plans. We do keep in the back of our minds that Dh's employer may lay off again and it's always possible he could be one of them, unfortunately.

boyohboyohboy replied: I think that food shopping is still high, we have also lost a lot of the little family owned stores and restraunts here, as well as some of the larger ones, linen and things, circuit city..
dh 's company laid off 300 at the beginning of the year, he works for citi bank.

we are really tightening because just feel that the worst hasnt happened yet.
so we are doing the savings bit, and also making sure there is not debt to worry about.
I am also trying to learn to be more self sufficient, not relaying on anyone else might be the way to.

my parents also lost their entire savings, and their medical was dropped, and as people who have predisposed conditions that hurts.

MommyToAshley replied: From our business standpoint, it hasn't affected us yet. However, over half of our work comes from colleges. If the funding and grants dry up for the schools, we could take a big hit. The other half of our business stems from small to medium size businesses, and sub-contracting from larger corporations. The first thing that is usually cut is the advertising budget, so I expect things to tighten up for us shortly. I am concerned because while our income has remained about the same, expenses have gone up. It seems like everything has gone up -- utilities, food, and even gas prices are rising again.

PrairieMom replied: We haven't felt it here in SD as much as people are feeling it in other states. our unemployment rate is only just below 4%, which is way better than other areas, BUT we have had a few large businesses close their doors here. I have noticed that the prices of things esp food have gone up dramatically.
We haven't personally felt it, but it is very worrisome, since DH runs his own business, and he does work for large companies all over the world, most of it advertising stuff. I don't feel very secure about it at all. we are taking steps now, to be as careful as we can before things get really bad, hopefully it will cushion the blow later.

luvmykids replied: Our business was hit very hard, residential construction. That's what caused the golf course deal in GA to go belly up, it all depended on the new home construction and when lending dried up, so did the development.

We're actually kind of on our feet again, business wise, but it's an understatement to say we are proceeding very, very cautiously because I'm sure the worst is yet to come.

Personally, we hit bottom over the last year....as bad as the economy may get I don't think it will feel much worse than what we just came out of. When our company went under, so did we, and when you've already hit rock bottom, well...even this feels better.

People around us don't seem as affected as where we used to live.....here, restaurants are still packed morning, noon and night, women are still getting their hair and nails done, etc.

DVFlyer replied: Over the last year we've gone from 16 employees to 10... mostly from lay-offs. I can easily see laying off at least one or two more people in the next few months if things don't pick up.

Given my position and other factors, I'd like to think I'm safe until the very end, but there is no hiding behind the fact that losing my job now and subsequently trying to find another job would be very difficult. And since we live on my income alone, very stressful.

We've tried to save where possible just in case, but my wife doesn't have a "worry bone" in her body when it comes to finances, so while she's somewhat frugal, she also has no fear of me losing my job.... I hope SHE finds a good job then.

My3LilMonkeys replied: We haven't felt it much yet other than the increased price of many things...but DH's job has been talking about layoffs for a while so there is some worry there. It is all about seniority/time on the job where he is and being a young employee in a place where some of the guys have been working for the company nearly as long as DH has been alive he is near the lower end of the seniority scale.

DillsMommy replied: I have noticed a slight change at my job. Being a waitress and all, you depend on peoples tips. And when money is tight for people, going out to eat isn't a top priority. It got really bad around Christmas. There were nights I would go home with $20 in my pocket. But it does seem to be picking back up, so that's good. Tom's job hasn't really been hit that hard. They have ups and downs, but that's pretty normal. He's an estimator at a big collision center around here. So we do have slow weeks, but there are always people wrecking their cars. So for every bad week there's a good week. He just got a promotion too, so that's a huge relief.

jcc64 replied: Well, being the hip trend-setter that I am, my lay-off preceded the national crisis by two years. Dh's in the investment business, so obviously he's been affected, though thankfully he still has a job. Ds will be applying to state colleges only next year, and our 401Ks are practically gone- over 20 yrs of savings-poof-gone in a flash. At least we still have our house and most importantly, our health. In the end, what matters more?

msoulz replied: I took a 7.5% salary decrease recently and the 401(k)'s are a mess but I am not complaining. I work in the auto industry so I am thankful to be employed. But if I mysteriously disappear some day it's because I am out of work and the high-speed internet will be cancelled to save $$.

MoonMama replied: We can see and feel it all around us, esp with friends losing jobs and such. But us personally no it hasn't effected us. DH is an architect and while that seems like it should hit us, as in know money to build, no money to be made. However he works internationally too a lot (he's working on a project in the UK right now), so he has other options outside the US. But like Denise said it hurts to watch those we love losing what they though were secure jobs and struggling.

Kentuckychick replied: It has affected me personally and a lot of people around me. I was laid off right after Christmas despite my company being ahead this year (no one's taking any chances). Luckily I was able to be rehired by a previous employer, so that at least helped. My father sells cleaning supplies (all of the paper towel dispensers, soap dispensers, cleaning products, etc...) to businesses here in Lexington as well as to hospitals, universities and federal prisons in other areas and they've taken a major hit (lowered commissions and cut bonuses) and businesses aren't spending the way they used to.

It's just sad to see where everyday another company is laying people off. Today Nissan let go of 20,000 employees -- that's a lot of people suddenly without jobs. And there was a list of places that likely won't make it through 2009 (amongst those were Chrysler, Six Flags, Blockbuster and Krispy Kreme).

It just makes you wonder where we're going to be when/if we finally do come out of this mess.

Cece00 replied: It hasnt really hit us personally too much.

My company I work for is actually flourishing right now. We're doing AMAZING. I hope it continues, I feel pretty secure in my job.

DH's company isnt giving raises this yr BUT they changed the bonus plan structure which is dependent on sales & such so the raise thing isnt really an issue. DH will likely make more in bonus than most yrs AND may do better than if he had gotten a raise with the old bonus plan.

But I have started to notice it a little here & there where we live. We're in Louisiana which has- where we live- so far not been hit too hard. We're insulated a bit bc of the oil/gas industry. But my mom works in the banking industry, and I know they are hurting (the banking industry, not really my parents personally, as my dad got a GREAT new job awhile back & is making loads more than @ his last job...keeping my fingers crossed that it remains that way!)

But overall- people are still buying/building big houses, driving big cars, women playing tennis & shopping all day, etc. I live in a pretty affluent area so I imagine its probably pretty bad in other parts of the state that we dont see.

DVFlyer replied:
I'd love to hear about which industries are doing well and which aren't. If it's not too personal, in what industry is your company?

moped replied:
I was curious as well........

I am in oil and gas and things are not too rosy right now, as I explained the HUGE drop in prices, but I still have a job!