OT: How is the economy effecting you?

[Jacob D]

So how is everyone doing in this crazy economy? Have you been effected at work? Has it effected your hobbies? Are you changing the way you spend money? How about how you invest?


As for me, I'm ok right now but a little nervous. I have been impacted work-wise. Lost one large account due to corporate cut backs, another one of my major customers is facing low sales and is reducing overhead and in general there are not as many new projects happening at this time due to economic contraction so things have slowed down for me. On a positive note, I have already purchased all of the major equipment for my tank a year ago, and now I should finally have some time to work on setting it up again!

 

[seaskraP]

i drink cheaper beer sometimes now.

 

[HMG-Reefer]

We are actually pretty busy at work but then again we mainly do prototypes for designs companies and there are a lot of new products being worked on especially in hand held electronics.
As far as investments I froze all my stocks and have them in a fixed rate IRS until situations improve.
The worst loss has been property values, kind of sad to see your home is once again only worth what you paid for it 15 years ago.
As far as personal cutbacks, less trips and fewer times taking the boat out, but after those cutbacks one must drink a good beer.

 

[Jacob D]

I agree a good beer can help ease us through these troubled times There has been a hops shortage for a while making beer expensive too unfortunately.

I saw on TV last night some lady who used coupons and sale items at the grocery store to lower her total from $125 to $35 for groceries... that would free up some beer money!

 

[Jacob D]

Does anyone have any money saving tips? I know Lanxang does... he shared a few with me recently (I'll let him post).

I have a few but nothing great:
1) Shop at Raley's and get .$25 off per gallon gas at Raley's gas station when you spend $100 on groceries. The coupon is on your receipt, scan it at the gas pump.

2) Free stuff from Raleys, they give you coupons after you checkout based on what you bought, sometimes they're for free items. So far got free coffee and diapers... I'll take it

3) Free prints at shutterfly.com when you sign up, they also send lots of free promos to you after signing up.

4) Keep an eye on Microsoft's website live.com for cashback deals through eBay and Paypal. It was recently 30% back up to $200, at 20% right now.

 

[HMG-Reefer]

I just watched a news story on Valley Brew and they were talking about the skyrocketing costs of hops and the damage to the small brewerys.

BTW just noticed my other post and it should be IRA not IRS, what was I thinking.

 

[RiOnRoxXx]

The price of gas is killing me on the commute. I drive a Honda Civic but yes even with this car I feel the pinch in the wallet. I now take "left overs" to work for lunch. Instead of shelling out 5 dollars a day on fast food. We do not go out and eat as much as a household. The prices at the grocery store is totally obvious. Not sure about other expenses but those are some that I noticed so far as changes because of the economy.

But on the plus side we did purchase our house recently because of the economy. We would never imagined doing so five years ago. So I have to sorta of be thankful for that.

 

[plankton]

Like HMG says, real estate propery values are low due to lotsa short sales and foreclosures. Gold is up, but many of the high tech, oil and gas stocks are down. I've picked up some good stocks that I think are oversold, but who knows where the global economy is going. I'm mostly cash right now in CDs and the CD rates are good which is prolly bad because that means that inflation is rising.

<sigh>

It's rough out there. Time to open another Asahi Super Dry.

Scott

 

[lanxang]

As it is, we started driving less and if we drove we try to hyper mile. I've gotten up to 35+ mpg on my civic.

Because I'm cheap, are spending isn't any different. I also visit forums like fatwallet dot com when I am about to buy something. I've save so much from using that site. I also use our credit card to buy stuff so we can get the reward points. Of course you need to pay it off in full each month or it negates the points.

As for the tank, I built it with electricity and maintenance cost in mind. I think the tank uses about 250w+- at any given time and I went towards t5ho for light source instead of 2 150w halide. The halides replacement cost and electricity usage was to much compared to t5ho. The 60g was also mostly funded by my 20g and my side ventures.

 

[plankton]

I'm currently running two small tanks and will eventually merge the 25G into the 60G...eventually. Will save some on electricity costs.

Also, working on our County Assessor to reduce my property tax. Going back and forth with them. They have only reduce a little thus far but asking for more since Prop-8 allows you to consider property sales from Jan 1 through March 31st of this year, etc.

If you spend I think $150 on groceries at Safeway, they'll take $0.10 off at their pump. Not as good as Raley's but something.

Scott

 

[drdoolittle]

I got less cash to spend on my tank now days.. sucks..

Luckily i shop at Jesus... I heard prices there are cheap..LOL.

 

[RiOnRoxXx]

TTT

This was a good topic and we're also dicussing the economy in my Business Principle classes.

My friends are losing jobs left and right...I've noticed a lot of "for sale" threads being posted.

 

[Jacob D]

Well, since I posted about 6 months ago things have slowed down dramatically for me. I have what I now would call a trickle of work coming in and it's getting harder and harder to find.

We can't really get into politics here on RC, but I think it's safe to say it has gotten worse since 6 months ago and probably will continue to decline for another 6 months or more.

With the extra time off I have been spending more time with my family and working on my tank build which I could not do before. Thankfully my wife has a pretty secure job and we don't have any debt... otherwise 6 months ago I would have been grudgingly looking to work for someone else once again.

 

[RobsReefs]

I run a small remodeling company and if it wear not for this very wealthy winery owner having me remodel every room one at a time in his 6500sqft house, i would not have enough customers to stay in business. I have Long time friends calling me all the time looking for work. I have been doing this for 15 years and never thought it would ever be this hard just to have the opportunity to even bid on a job let alone sign a contract and make some money off a job. Things are very bad in my line of work now. Well all i know is in the end it all comes down to how well our reputation for Quality work is remembered and how soon people can feel comfortable/able getting loans to finance high end remodeling again. My fingers are crossed and my savings is going down

Robert.

 

[Whacked]

the butcher went on a rampage at my work today.

co-worker was laid off and he was there 2 yrs longer.

My already short hrs was reduced. still, less hrs is better than none and much better than unemployment.

Others either were reduced weekly hours or some were hit with a 20% pay cut.

its really hit my hobby funds. Cant just pick up a frag here or there anymore. Its affected my new build. I'll still pick up my new lights later this month, paying for it with tax return.

 

[sermech]

I'm in the rental business and like the construction end we have been hit hard. We have gone from over forty people working for the company down to 20 in the last 4 months. The one saving grace is that it is privately owned. So my spending has slowed alittle but not to much.

 

[DDRR]

You know it doesn't help with the media constantly talking about how bad everything is economically. To all the EMPTY SUITES in power reduce taxes so people can consume more, pay off debt, and invest, wow now theres a stimulus plan.

 

[brianbigoats]

my business has been very good we had our largest Jan & Feb ever luckily people are not drinking less wine just cheaper wine which works good for me

 

[Jacob D]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14648805#post14648805 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sermech
I'm in the rental business and like the construction end we have been hit hard. We have gone from over forty people working for the company down to 20 in the last 4 months. The one saving grace is that it is privately owned. So my spending has slowed alittle but not to much.

I've noticed a lot of equipment/tool rental businesses disappearing, I'm guessing they're following the trend set by construction. On the positive side I recently heard that there was an upturn in new home construction... the housing prices may have finally hit the tipping point, plus the Fed just lowered interest rates again.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14650218#post14650218 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brianbigoats
my business has been very good we had our largest Jan & Feb ever luckily people are not drinking less wine just cheaper wine which works good for me

You and me need to talk, bud I'd jump at the chance to have lunch with someone over there to possibly get my foot in the door.

 

[Bamm Bamm]

The economy is affecting me because Im switching lines of work right now and the job market sucks.. So I just spent the last year in school and now Im looking for a job and because of the market the way it is it's pretty tough right now.. We do try to conserve energy where we can though. My girlfriend bought a Altima hybrid so our gas costs are way down..I'm only running 2x250w MHs on my 180..opposed to the 3x400 I really want to run.. We live in an apt and I hook my ro/di up to the apts garden hose supply so I don't pay for my Ro/DI for my 180 or 20g qt.. And we don't eat out as much as we used to.. I myself since I dont have a job right now can;t buy everything I want like I used to.. I used top walk out of Tropical Paradise back in the day with hundreds in corals..Now I limit myself to $40 whenever I buy any corals..