Great 'Recession Survival Tips' Hunt

Fulham_Mark

Look at what happened in Japan in the 1990s

10year recession due to a collapsed property market (I think it was commercial property with banks over-lending to investors and developers)

People slowly ate away at their savings, companies and the state tried to keep their staff for a few years before the redundancies happened. House prices fell, government did everything it could to stimulate the economy - interest rates went negative! Plus crime, suicides and the occaisional terror incident.

I remember reading later that any economic upturn was based on the whims of teenage girls, if a big trend came and they pestered their parents enough then the economy would take off.

Couples separated and fewer marriages happened when people realised that they could now buy a city centre flat for £70,000 instead of £200,000

Nearly all Japanese car manufacturers are foreign owned now, even the Karaoke bar industry is slowly being taken over by the Chinese.

Not sure how people coped. Urban myth has it that the breadwinners would pretend they still had a job and hide in the local libraries during the day.

angelavdavis

• Don't grocery shop out of habit - use a storecupboard challenge to get as much from your fridge/freezer and storecupboard as possible delaying your shop. Once you need to shop, use comparison shopping sites and alternative supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi to ensure you get the best deals.
• Club together with a couple of friends and buy meat in bulk from the local farmer to fill the freezer - it will be cheaper than the supermarket and you know where its come from.
• Dig out old forgotten bank account books and visit the branches to withdraw the funds and close them down. Put the money somewhere where it will earn a decent interest rate instead - every penny needs to work harder!
• Make sandwiches and read online newspapers to save pennies - they soon mount up!
• If you regularly buy all your relatives Christmas presents, agree a budget of £10 and have a secret Santa instead - put all your names in a hat a few weeks before the big day, then buy the present within budget and wrap up and put their name on the present - placing it under the tree when no one is looking. Its great fun as well as moneysaving.

LouiseTopp

Shop at Lidl. It is way cheaper and quality often is better than at Tesco

I would do but our city doesn't have one, the nearest one is 26 miles away. Is there anyway Lidles or Aldays have websites in which you can shop off of?

jimmackman

Hi there

I went through the last recession in the 80's working in a building company which was probably one of the worst hit industries. My only advice is to think value and make sure that you follow up each and every lead with vigour and make sure you give your clients' top service and get your estimates or quotes back quickly, emphasise the quality of your operation not the price, but be prepared to trim your margins to the bone to get the work, it will make sure you're still there at the end. Use the old adage. "underpromise and overdeliver" and you wont go far wrong, we're still here at the top of our tree 20 years later. Also remember it is easy to talk yourself into a recession, think positive.

Mother_Wombat

The tips I would add are:

Cost out your recipes and exercise portion control. I price up storecupboard items as I buy them and make a note of the price per ounce or similar on the packet - you can get some suprises.

Make sure you put a little aside, each week, for treats. They may be very small ones but if you try to do without treats at all you will end up losing it and splurging in an uncontrolled way.

Check the fridge every day - it only takes a couple of minutes - that way you will waste much less. It's amazing how tasty soups made from leftovers can be.

Put a pressure cooker on your Christmas list - it will save you a fortune in fuel costs and a great deal of time.

LoulaBelle

Never be too proud to ask for help or admit that you can't afford to buy the latest 'must have'.

If as one youngster was saying that her entertainment spending was too high from going out as she couldn't bare sitting at home knowing her friends were out - then go out but have a glass of tap water with lemon in or an orange squash (50p) and say that you are trying to give up alchol/detoxing for a while.

There are many ways to cut back/prepare.

I for one can't wait to get a little part time job to help out with finances - I'm currently 8 months pregnant but once the baby is sleeping through the night (very important) I will go out cleaning offices in the evenings (it pays about £80 a week - so thats the food shopping covered) - or even advertise my services as a babysitter - any extra helps.

emmarooney

LoulaBelle wrote: »

"go out but have a glass of tap water with lemon in or an orange squash (50p) and say that you are trying to give up alchol/detoxing for a while."

Be careful though - I usually choose plain soda water if I'm driving and it costs almost as much as a pint in some pubs. A lot of pubs and clubs charge for carbonated water and squash...

My tip is make lunch to take to work if possible - if you go to get a sandwich it rapidly gets accompanied by crisps, a bun, a magazine, a drink etc etc and suddenly you've spent a fiver. Take your own and save the cost of hidden extras.

Jem8472

• Make sandwiches and read online newspapers to save pennies - they soon mount up!

Some good tips here but I will add, keep reading proper newspapers! I work for a newspaper printer :rolleyes:

champagnesupernova

Log on to Ebay and sell all your unwanted bits and pieces - it's amazing what people will pay money for!

Sort out your old clothes, unwanted toys, even stamps and CDs will sell.

Search Ebay for similar things that you have to sell and see what prices they are going for.

You only need a scanner/digital camera (to put photos of your items up) and some packing materials - Poundland does everything from padded envelopes to brown wrapping paper. And don't forget that the buyer pays for the post and packaging anyway.

I am the world's worst with technology so if I can do it, anyone can!


Follow this link for MSE's Ebaying tips - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/selling-on-ebay

smh_poole

Thankfully, I was too young to worry much about the 80s recession, and my family were not overly affected by it.

That said, heres my tips...some of which may have been mentioned already by other posters, but they are all things I put into practice and seems to have worked for us for the last 8 years.

• Draw cash for spending where ever possible
  Its much more visible than your bank statement (On screen or paper!), easier to budget for irregular things like petrol and food
• When you do spend on card (e.g. Maestro) keep all reciepts
  You can then tally these up against your bank statement online each week/few days keeping a close tally on how much you have spent
• Keep an accurate record of all direct debits and standing orders
  I use a spreadsheet for this, which includes ALL outgoings each month - I can then go through and tick off the ones that have been drawn
• Where possible, make direct debits/standing orders close after payday
  e.g. If you get paid monthly on 28th, make as many payments as possible for 1st of the month, you'll have a clear view of spare cash for the month
• Use online shopping comparison sites
  e.g. Froogle!
• We have credit cards for emergencys only, which are kept tucked away at home - Not in my wallet, that way if I fancy something whilst out and about, I have to go home first - Time to think 'Do I really need it?'

Ok, these are not quite recession related, but I do feel these are all sensible money management ideas...hope they help!

Oh...and one last one, don't keep on moaning about 'the recession' or 'the credit crunch' to your friends, family etc...OK, times may get a little tough, but if we all panic and stop spending, guess what happens to this current down turn?