Has this economy continued to hurt your wallet, or are you doing just fine?
 

I was thinking about this as I came to work today and was greeted with not a lot of work for a monday. We do work for a lot of different people/businesses and we have seen slow downs in every industry. We usually stay busy year round, but there are times where it's feast or famine that's for sure.

Personally speaking my money is held pretty firmly, we are currently paying off as much debt as possible before we get a house. This economy definitely has impacted me though. I used to reach my bonus almost every week, but now I rarely reach my bonus which sucks, but being employed is enough to keep me content. I know some of you guys in here are in pretty solid industries, but those who are not, does the economy continue to hurt you financially?

Even take into account, health care that you may have to pay yourself, and or benefits in general.

We have been pretty good in the wallet, but now we suddenly really could use a new house (need an extra room in about 6 more months incubation time). The economy/housing market is likely going to come into play trying to sell the current house.

I work in the non-profit social services sector. It always hurts.

I've been busier than hell (knocks on patients head).

as the prices of everything keep going up, my pay remains the same.

Over/under on being moved to dc

50 posts

And why can this dickwad still start threads?

Yes it is, plus the damn tax increase is really kicking my ass. Prices go up, paycheck goes down. What fun.

Luckily I make enough money at this point that subtle changes don't hurt as bad.

Can't say I was real happy to see the extra amount they're taking out of my check as of January 1 though.

Moving into a new place with the Fiancee is definitely more expensive, especially when there are zero jobs in the local area for her. I have also felt the food price creep eating into my savings capability.

Income wise we are doing better than ever, I am fortunate to be in an industry that is fairly recession proof, my wife's income has been hit, but hers is mostly for discretionary spending. However prices everywhere have gone up so our purchasing power is decreasing. We don't live paycheck to paycheck, but savings is not getting built like it should be, and home ownership is looking slim.
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Yeah I hear that!

Who are you?

I own a liquor store and times are pretty tough for most regular people during this "great recession". Crossing my fingers for superbowl week!

2% less pay due to FICA + company not doing any merit increases this year (despite the stock being at an all-time high) = major suckage

Thankfully, DaKCMan AP is still an Awesome baller. :D

check your friend requests.
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Things are going better than ever, to be honest.

I'm married! So nothing from nothing is still nothing. Meh!

You had to know that was coming though, right? I mean its not like that was a surprise.

Me, I'm doing pretty well, but it hasn't kept up with the capital outlay or the ****ing stress I'm under. That has increased much more than my net income.

My wife's job (catholic school) dumped their insurance so that's a hefty sum every month. Taxes are an ever looming problem of which I shouldn't be too bad but I'm epic boned next year.

And really most of my business improvement is contingent on a couple decisions I made with some prompting from my dad. I made some decent decisions outside of that, but most of the bump is from his prompting. If I'd have stayed the same as last year I'd be crying like a bitch.

But like most business owners, I see the missed opportunities and the things I could have done better.

Was down and out this time a year ago...even until September. Better than ever now.

Getting by, but it has been increasingly tough since Motorola went to China in 2000.

Traveling expenses between and cost of maintaining two houses is more than I figured.

Fortunately we have Yorkies, so they don't eat that much.

Life is great now, no complaints here.

Wow.

What crawled into your panties? There's nothing wrong with El Jefe.

Every aspect on my economic life is better. Even my 401k ROI is 16% in the last 12 months.

He is a good person, doesn't start shit with no one. Nothing wrong with his threads. No reason to be a dick and call him names.

Yeah, he is good people if I have kept up with who he is. I think it was 4 usernames ago, when he came aboard, right? somethinggolj?

That's who I thought it was. I was pretty good friends with that guy. He told me some things about his life, and I tried to give him some advice here and there when he asked. I PM'd this guy because I'm almost positive it's the same dude, but he didn't ever respond, and I haven't bothered digging it up. I don't agree with all of his takes on politics and what not, but he's a good guy. I'm down with El Jefe.

I hate going groc. shopping. Cannot buy enough on 150 bucks to make it last, does not fill up the grocery cart like it use too.


I'd like to do what they do on extreme shopping with coupons. How do they do it? They can buy 300 to 400 dollars worth of stuff and spend $13.00 for it all some times even getting a refund :eek:

My only source of income this year is financial aid reimbursement and tax return. I is sad.

I dont read anything you say, I just stare at your boobs

It is a TON of work, but almost anyone can do it. A lot of times they have to spend more than that to get their hands on all of those coupons. It's more than a full time job. I'm cheap enough I looked into it. Wasn't worth all my time though.

At least it's tax time. How long until you're done with school?

Its put a pretty good hurt on the big ticket retail world here, three of the five biggest employers in this town have closed or moved in the last two years (two manufacturing, one mental health care).

If we werent partially shielded by the local ag economy, this town wouldnt even exist anymore.

Damn. That's a shame. Hope you and yours are doing well.

Maybe another year and a half. I tutor on the side as well. But I can't get enough constituents at the price I want for it to be anything worth more than gas money.

being a recent college grad, it's tough out there. Making $13 an hour is ****ing bullshit when you have a degree and have student loans.

Hope the economy picks up. Sucks being poor after all that work.

Surprise, no.

Discouraging, yes.

Best I've done since 1999.

I've noticed a LOT that people at the grocery store will by not very much at all and it will come to $100. When I was a sacker back in high school $100 would fill up the whole cart.

I buy as much as I can in bulk at costco (if its not something that will spoil).

Good luck brutha. You working toward something that you're passionate about, something that will pay you, or both?

I started out of college at $8 an hour. Stick with it, you'll be fine.

Many thanks, you Sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

This is the part that is killing me the most. I'm lucky to pay my bills, but when it comes too buying groceries I hate getting to the point having to put things back because I can't afford it. Your right you just don't get very much for $100 bucks anymore. The gas bill and electric bill are bad enough damn.

I learned that an economy heater that you plug in makes the electric bill go sky rocket OUCH. Lesson learned not to use plug in heaters to help with lowering the gas bill. Does not work out in a good way.

Thanks buddy. Well it is math related which I am really, really good at. Anything I'm good at I like. And it pays well I believe. Ever heard of an actuary?

Same here. We have one coming in June. Trying to get the bathroom remodeled and everything situated and ready before then. Ours was a slow remodel of the home that suddenly got expedited starting in October (apparently beer for me and vodka for her = high motility and egg migration).

I'm in IT, my paycheck is ok, nothing great but it pays the bills. She teaches, so again, its ok but we aren't going to retire by 40, thats for sure.

Once we get past the remodel bills, the hatchling bills, and square up on some of our previous debt, we'll dig ourselves back in with a new car purchase. The interest goblins keep coming back, over and over and over again.

Heard the term, but never fully understood it. Just looked it up and that's a pretty good job. Average salary is right around six figures, but I don't get the impression you're average. Shit you're black, that makes you huge right out of the gate! That's a good job, man. Sounds like fun too, if you're a numbers nerd like us.

yeah; groceries have been the biggest impact to our budget from what I can tell.

we're eating a lot more salads; or sammiches and soup...something cheap and smiple. we'll ahve a nice dinner on the weekends, but for the most part we eat cheap.

Nothing like paying interest on a rolling depreciating asset! I drive a Lincoln. It's 15 years old, but still a nice ride. I take my chances with mechanic bills, and so far I've won a lot more than I've lost. Different strokes for different folks, so don't take this post as any kind of judgment. I'd just rather spend the extra money on hookers and blow! :D

It goes up and down and really depends on if an organization sees high quality photography as a luxury or not which obviously depends on their line of work and the way they go about their business. Have one huge client and a lot of medium sized work that gets me through just fine but would love to have one more big fish to work with throughout the year. Working on it.

I really need to cut my food budget. I've gotten huge all over again, and spend too much money eating conveniently, and deliciously. I could easily shave $300 a month for my wife, brother in law, and myself by following this model. Groceries are out of ****ing control.

my income is up 28% over where it was just about 18 months ago due to some unexpected things that occurred with my employer.

The downside is I am now overpaid for most if not all of my competitors, so should I ever need to find a new job, I would likely take a bath.

No judgement taken. I still have, and will always have my 5cyl diesel S-class (its 31 now). It just goes and is the lowest maintenance vehicle I've ever had, but I'm usually in my company vehicle anyway. She just has a mom van with a jillion miles on it, so once we get past a few things, we'll be looking for a nice little Outback for her to tool around him. Maybe by then we'll have snow again to justify the awd. Its just a little car she and I both like.

My days of hooker and blow ended with that big ol' shiney I put on her finger. lol.

the company I worked for (startup) went tits up 6 months after I was hired. took a 42% pay cut 6 months later.


.....not awesome.

:thumb: I'm married too, she said it was cool since we don't have kids.

You should write a how-to book.

I'll buy a copy.

Both.

Pay is down ~25%. Only debt is mortgage which is still less than 20% of household income. We adjust budget as needed. Mostly adjusting discretionary spending now. Stacations instead of vacations and eating out less. Looking at cutting back on kids college funds or rate of payment on mortgage if needed.

So pay took a hit but still doing fine.

Just graduated from college in December, but can't find a job. Every opening wants a ton of work experience that I obviously can't provide. Hopefully things pick up when the weather turns.

Doing just fine.

Good luck. Don't get too flustrated with it. You have a degree and am sure that will help you out, that shows for something.

A bit worse. No merit increases in two years. No bonus this year (even though me and my department reached our goals).

All-time high profits for the company though. Nice job!

What's your degree?

2008 - new job; same pay. 6 months later, company tits up
6 months to find work.
found work at about 40-42% less pay.
foreclosed.
have moved 4 times in 6 years.

2008 was a bitch; 2008 - 2012 was horrible; roughest patch of our lives for my wife and I. Finally got back on track in August and life is good.

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I know the feeling.

My business has grown by a factor of x4 in the last 3 years.


I think that is a result of me busting my ass instead of economy.

Wow that's crazy. You're in sales right?

Everybody had to know it was coming, it was a temp thing at best. The REAL discouraging thing is that the employer portion was not reduced. Mind bogglingly stupid, but to me that's the worst part of the whole deal.

Man if you could land an actuarial job, that'd be super sweet, but I wouldn't count on becoming one without a pissload more school.

What is the requisite schooling for actuarial work. It is pretty much a doctoral accounting thing?

The only way you can say it hasn't is if you never buy anything.

We are doing OK but some months are harder than others. So far we haven't had to change up our IRA and 529 deposits but we have taken 3 of our kids out of private school because of the economy.

I hadn't noticed since I haven't received a paycheck since May.

At least the job market for my chosen profession seems to be opening up a little. Had several interviews last week. Have 2nd/3rd interviews with a couple of those and some new interviews this week.

Keeping my fingers crossed, otherwise going to have to sell the house in a couple of months.

I am now, kind of.

I started out in support and then moved to operations/engineering. I then moved from operations to pre-sales engineering.

Can't complain.

Taking that promotion with the company within the past year has been great. However, Topeka is not ideal for a hardwood flooring store, imo. Our business is primarily out of Lawrence or Manhattan.

My girlfriend should be moving in the first weekend of March. Hopefully she can find a job relatively quick to help out with the minute things.

This year,I'm a bit lighter in the back pocket, but, hell,I ride a Harley. That's an on goin state.

your location sucks....Topekans hate that building because of Kansas Furniture Mart.

I make more money than many new college graduates (I think so at least!?) so I am not complaining, but we found out this week that there will be no pay raises this year and no one is getting a retention bonus.

I am worried that the no pay raises could result in cutting pay sometime this year as well and this is just a lead-in for that.

The girlfriend and I are trying to save up for a house. We have no debt what-so-ever besides my student loan payment, which is somewhat comforting. As long as my pay isn't cut, we can do alright but it isn't comforting just starting a career with this economy.

I hate the fact we are kind of tucked away.

But, it is nice being near the busiest intersection in Topeka.

The building we are attached to is going to become an HVAC school. I've not a damn clue how parking is going to work when that's all said and done.

huh....private or for the union?

Private, I do believe.

LL owns the building we are in and the parking from our front doors on. The students who attend the HVAC school will have like 2-4 spots of parking. LMAO And the back of Target, assuming Target lets them park there.

Why couldn't he?
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Then bills could be cheaper. You know how lol
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we had the same problem last year.

50k and about 1100sq ft with two bathrooms and nine. months later and I'm done
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