how is the credit crunch affecting you

sunrise27_2

I'm spending my afternoon balancing the books after the christmas spend up and was just wondering how the credit crunch is affecting everyone
we managed to stay on top of things this christmas but are generally watching the pennies,
while its so cold the heating is on but when its not so cold we are trying not to use it quite so much.
I'm writing a weeks menu before I go shopping and trying to stick to just buying what we need,
I'm trying to drill into everyone to turn lights off and have replaced normal bulbs with energy saving ones.
I'm a worrier anyway but my son and I are both in retail and so is my hubbys second job so I constantly worry about if we lose our jobs.
If I were to lose my job but have a very very small card business ( last year we didn't have to pay any tax on it as it so tiny and this year although we might have to pay tax it won't be that much ) if I'm classed as self employed does that mean I wouldn't be able to claim anything ??
All this would be bad enough but its coupled with the fact that last year my hubby decided to throw a big wobble and change his job taking quite a big cut in his wages.
I hate having all this constantly in the back of my mind , I feel as though I'm not enjoying my job ( or life ) much at the moment as I'm scared of losing everything

Cleaver

From a completely selfish point of view the only way we've been effected is a much cheaper mortgage and cheaper petrol. So far.

I would obviously swap both for overall economic stability however.

mitchaa

About 100 positives, no negatives so far.

My money is buying twice the amount it was buying 6-9mths ago.

(Well not quite twice but a lot more )

PasturesNew

- Govt reduced savings interest, so now it doesn't provide an income
- My income from other sources has dropped by about 75-80%
- The two above, combined, mean I probably now have an income worth 2/3rds of what I'd get from benefits if I had no savings, but I do so benefits are not an option.

Now I need to find a job, in a market I didn't think would get this bad this quickly. So, setting a target of 3 months to find a "proper job", followed by 2 months to "get anything".

Plan is: survive this downturn and come out of it with a job, so I can buy a house.

Cleaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

- Govt reduced savings interest, so now it doesn't provide an income
- My income from other sources has dropped by about 75-80%
- The two above, combined, mean I probably now have an income worth 2/3rds of what I'd get from benefits if I had no savings, but I do so benefits are not an option.

Now I need to find a job, in a market I didn't think would get this bad this quickly. So, setting a target of 3 months to find a "proper job", followed by 2 months to "get anything".

Plan is: survive this downturn and come out of it with a job, so I can buy a house.

Do you ever wish you hadn't sold your house?

mitchaa

PasturesNew wrote: »

So, setting a target of 3 months to find a "proper job", followed by 2 months to "get anything".

Come on PN, whats wrong with supermarkets, fast food restaurants? Surely ANY job is better than no job

Does it really take as much as 2-3mths to get a job? Perhaps you should lower your standards for a while if you are struggling??

Kez100

Cheaper petrol. Much cheaper mortgage. Knowledge that my business will be affected but absolutely no idea by how much. Worried over husbands job as he works for a big corporate who is sheading jobs. Much reduced value of shareholding. Worried for a friend whose business is in construction but is a fairly new start up (>3 years) and has everything on the line for it. Also worried for another newish start up who opened at the very worst of times.

Like Cleaver I would trade everything for higher taxes, if necessary, but stability. That would help eliminate worries which is worth so much.

IveSeenTheLight

So far personally, the only negative I have had personally is the lowering of the pound value.

As for the positives, mortgage interest is lower which has resulted in my mortgage rapidly reducing, petrol is lower, prodicts are cheaper i.e. televisions etc, ability to haggle is higher, know a firiend who is getting a new kitchen at 1/3 of the price

longtimelurker_2

Not affected me at all so far. We're both recent graduates in our first jobs so in fact we have more money than ever before - though the frugal ways carried on from our student times help (I wouldn't even think about not writing meal plans/shopping lists for example).

Cleaver

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

So far personally, the only negative I have had personally is the lowering of the pound value.

That's true, I'd forgotten about that. I recently spent a weekend in Europe and it was like spending two days purchasing everything at a motorway service station.

"HOW MUCH?!?"

sunrise27_2

I pay national insurance in my paid job
the plan is ( and I hope that I don't need to use it ) if I lost my job I would throw everything into making the card business bigger and better, at the moment its earning a tiny bit of profit but its more of a hobby really.