What has the economy done to you?

[Gomez]

villageidiot inspired this thread with "the economy has kicked me in the rear".

What has it done to you?

I haven't worked for over 2 yrs now. We Foreclosed on both of our houses. Ended up with Bankruptcy. My wife and I and our 2 kids are now living with my Parents (whole 'nuther story there).

Gotta love it.

[villageidiot]

I owned my own business (auto repair) gone. Dune buggys. Motorcycles. Gone. Sweet new rides gone. My house is in forclosure, and I'm lookin at movin in with my mom. Me and the wife are goin strong. I still have my tools. And a renewed outlook on what's really important in life. I have to say. I'm much happier now.

[Aaronbrook37]

I owned my own business (auto repair) gone. Dune buggys. Motorcycles. Gone. Sweet new rides gone. My house is in forclosure, and I'm lookin at movin in with my mom. Me and the wife are goin strong. I still have my tools. And a renewed outlook on what's really important in life. I have to say. I'm much happier now.

It is individuals like this who truly live the American Dream. Respect, brother... respect.

[doylerl]

I lost my job... luckly I found another, but a $5 / hr paycut, and it took me a whole year to find it. I did have unemployment for that time, but it was just enough to get by on the bare minimum. I lost my trailblazer, and was forced to only pay minimum on my bills which lead me to pay MUCH more in interest on them. I am lucky though, I still have my house and my 'stiva, so I suppose I am still doing ok. Now with the economy hit again with the quake and stuff in japan, my job is hanging in the balance once again. I was getting 60+ hours a week, and now I am down to 40 if I'm lucky. I have to clean, paint, and misc. stuff just to get that in. It isn't a rich life, but I am still alive, so that's what matters I suppose.

[Gomez]

Forgot, my wife lost her '08 Corolla in the BK.

[iceracerdude]

One of the things I learned a long time ago was, especially when you're making good money is, the "party never lasts forever!" When you're making the dough, pay off your stuff as quick as you can...especially your house. When money's rolling in, it's easy to be lolled into a sense of believing it won't stop, not being able to visualize an ending.
You can more easily see it where rock stars or movies stars do that all the time. Live high on the hog when they're at the top of their game, then all of a sudden (or seemingly so) the group breaks up, or the scripts don't keep coming in. Well we all tend to do the same thing, but obviously on a smaller scale, and so we're not aware we're doing the exact same thing.
I've experienced it myself first hand of course, but I've been much luckier. I've tried to explain it to my younger friends, and family members but man, it's hard to get through to people when their money's still coming in hard, you know what I mean?
I believe much, much harder times are coming, and I mean like the hard times of the 30's.
Heck, I'm to the point, I'm watching to see what/who the new millenium's version of the new John Dillinger, or Bonnie and Clyde, or Baby face Nelson will manifest themselves as!
We're (the USA) is really poised for a complete catastrophic economic meltdown, but at least we'll be able to console ourselves with the fact, we've got the biggest military spending budget on the planet!

[Basement_Modder]

My mom's a teacher, so she is getting hit hard. She took something along the lines of a 5% paycut a few years ago, and now with Michigan's butthead of a new governor, Rick Snyder, she has to take another 5-10% paycut next year, and lose all her medical and dental insurance. Also, because Snyder's killing/ getting rid of the worker's unions, she's at full risk of being fired, which she likely will be, due to the fact that her district has wanted to get rid of all the old experienced teachers in favor of new naive (cheaper) ones for over a decade now. This will probably force her into an early retirement and/ or bankrupt us.

Thanks, Rick. Thanks a lot.

[brickdog2000]

One of the things I learned a long time ago was, especially when you're making good money is, the "party never lasts forever!" When you're making the dough, pay off your stuff as quick as you can...especially your house. When money's rolling in, it's easy to be lolled into a sense of believing it won't stop, not being able to visualize an ending.

I believe much, much harder times are coming, and I mean like the hard times of the 30's.
Heck, I'm to the point, I'm watching to see what/who the new millenium's version of the new John Dillinger, or Bonnie and Clyde, or Baby face Nelson will manifest themselves as!
We're (the USA) is really poised for a complete catastrophic economic meltdown, but at least we'll be able to console ourselves with the fact, we've got the biggest military spending budget on the planet!

I agree with you a 100%. I started in the poor house and took me years to get where I am at today. I am not rich by any means!!!! I just have a little set aside for emergencies. If I really wanted to I could buy an engine upgrade for the festy and pay someone to put it in. However, I am cheap and frugal to ensure I can support my family.

Before I continue, I want to say I have teh UTMOST RESPECT for all of you. For I am in the military and I did not experience what you guys have. I am amazed with the strength and determination all of you have shown. To be honest I am afraid to get out cause of the fact that I have a family and I promised them they would never live on the streets like I had to as a child.

Yes the military spends a lot of money. From what I have personally seen they also waste a lot of it too. I dont agree with the way we order our parts, but everytime I try to get them cheaper I get shot down because of contracts. I think we are in for some hard times. My solution is to get the average american in the senate, congress, and president. Then we will see positive changes. Cause we know what need and want. Apparently our government couldent decide on a budget, which threaten a government shutdown. however, I am sure congress and teh senate would have ensured that they would get paid. It seems to me that they only care about their FAT paychecks.

[brickdog2000]

My mom's a teacher, so she is getting hit hard. She took something along the lines of a 5% paycut a few years ago, and now with Michigan's butthead of a new governor, Rick Snyder, she has to take another 5-10% paycut next year, and lose all her medical and dental insurance. Also, because Snyder's killing/ getting rid of the worker's unions, she's at full risk of being fired, which she likely will be, due to the fact that her district has wanted to get rid of all the old experienced teachers in favor of new naive (cheaper) ones for over a decade now. This will probably force her into an early retirement and/ or bankrupt us.

Thanks, Rick. Thanks a lot.

I think that the professional atheletes should have a salary cap and that teachers should get an increase. It pisses me off to hear that any public service worker (teacher, police, firefighter, military, ect.) gets pay cuts and also get stuck with paying for new stadiums and paying for our govenments debt by raising our taxes. I think the government and professional atheletes can take a pay cut. Or at least teh professional atheletes can pay to build their own stadium.

[blkfordsedan]

I took a $15K/yr pay cut, then was due to take another $14K/yr cut so I was forced to go to work for another company. That company ended up being a complete joke (after only 5 months), so I ended up going back to the first company in a non-commission based position (not sales!). I also pulled about $15K out of retirement (when I did the 401K rollover to the new job) to pay off some debt and put the rest in savings, "just in case". I am much happier now. I love my job and being on straight salary, but I'm still making about $20K/yr less than I was 3 years ago.

I'm very lucky to have always had a job. And although I can no longer just buy something if I want it, I can pay my bills and haven't had to give anything up other than change my lifestyle. I was very careful to not get soo far in debt I couldn't get out. I also resisted the urge to buy a bigger house several years ago, and I'm glad I did.

[1990new]

The way things are going we may need to bookmark this site.

http://cheaprvliving.com/fordfestiva.html

[TominMO]

The way things are going we may need to bookmark this site.

http://cheaprvliving.com/fordfestiva.html

A very interesting site! Thanks.

[doylerl]

Nice... I like it. May "run away" from civilization for a while if I lose this job too! Now that I know it is possible to live in the festy!

[1990new]

A very interesting site! Thanks.

You're welcome Tom. See you're from St. Louis
Lived in St. Ann back in 68-69 when I worked at McDonnell.
Married a girl from St. Louis in 69 and brought her back to SC. That was almost 42 years ago. We've driven a Festiva back there a few times.
(Also lived there in 71-72 before we returned back to SC permanently.)
Jess

[bastille10]

My family has been in the drycleaning business for 40 plus years.
It had been a really consistent, steady,good way to make a living.
Like everything in this country, the s*^% really hit the fan 2 1/2 years ago. One popular joke in my business Q: What's the difference between a pizza and a drycleaner? A: A pizza can still feed a family of 4!
I had to lay off people I had worked with for years (made sure they all at least got unemployment), seen my own draw cut, at times, by 40% and seen my wife and her whole department in downtown Seattle get riffed.
Long story short, my wife got a new job at 60% of what she made at the old place, the family biz has stabilized (it's not getting any worse) and we've manage to help keep our son in college for his sophomore year.
This Festiva was my one treat to myself for the last couple years.
Hang on TIGHT to what is good in your life. Hang on to what breaths life into you. There's an old song with the lyrics "when your troubled, and you can't sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings". Still good advise.