how is the credit crunch affecting you

IveSeenTheLight

sunrise27 wrote: »

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.

Just a query, but is a card business a good option during a recession?

Bean_Counter

Personally not too badly affected so far.

However I work in construction and if I am still in the same job when we exit the downturn I'll be delighted.

Biggest worry keeping me awake at night is managing the business' cashflow to help ensure that everyone stays in a job.

sunrise27_2

its something we started before the credit crunch began and it is slowly building up nicely
my theory is that places like clinton cards charge an absolute fortune and we are very reasonably priced and can make them personalised etc
we keep our prices at the lower end of the scale but have a lot of customers that come back time and time again.
we are starting to offer gifts as well as an option and hope to get into wedding stationary.
I think as the credit crunch starts to hit more people will be looking either to make them themselves or to find someone who will be able to make them but at a fraction of the shop prices
one example is a seating plan , these can cost in excess of £80 online but are much cheaper to make yourself

Cleaver

sunrise27 wrote: »

one example is a seating plan , these can cost in excess of £80 online but are much cheaper to make yourself

People pay other people / companies £80 to do their wedding seating plan? At the risk of sounding like my Dad, the world has gone mad.

sunrise27_2

yes they do !! crazy isn't it and that was one of the cheaper options
I certainly wouldn't pay that
try looking up the prices of handmade wedding invitations - hubby couldn't believe his eyes , we plan to offer our service at a fraction of the price and still make a profit

itsnever2lateisit?

The credit crunch hasnt affected me at all, I have been able to obtain credit cards since the crunch began. The economic downturn is a different kettle-of-fish. Income has started to decline, if it wasnt for the weak pound it would have been worse (most of my income is in €)

BlondeHeadOn

In practice, the credit crunch has had positive rather than negative effects on me - as others have mentioned, cheaper mortgage, cheaper fuel, able to haggle prices down...

But the effect on my mental state has been much more profound. I feel deeply unsettled by the reported global financial instability, and very nervous about what is going to happen over the next year. I run my own business and had a very good year last year - but I am very pessimistic about 2009, and therefore I am squirreling away my profits from 2008 rather than spending any of them. This of course will not help the economy at all! But at the moment I have a real psychological need of a financial 'cushion' to help me ride out the bad times.

I think the main problem is that I don't believe that anyone in charge really knows what they are doing, and are just trying random measures in a blind panic to see whether one of them will help the economy. And if they choose the wrong random measures and f**k it up some more, then we won't know until it's too late and the economy plunges even further.

So: personally I am experiencing a huge gap between the actual effects and the emotional effects of the credit crunch so far. Which sounds a bit daft, really!

wharty

I am the best off i have ever been, with my mortgage £140 per month cheaper and petrol and diesel costs around £110 a month cheaper for the both of us:j . Just hope i dont lose my job :rotfl:

moneymare

Like some of the earlier posts, have only positive experience from 'credit crunch'.
Mortgage is around £150pm less than in April (even though not technically, as overpaying) and Petrol prices considerably less than was the case.

Cleaver

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

In practice, the credit crunch has had positive rather than negative effects on me - as others have mentioned, cheaper mortgage, cheaper fuel, able to haggle prices down...

But the effect on my mental state has been much more profound. I feel deeply unsettled by the reported global financial instability, and very nervous about what is going to happen over the next year. I run my own business and had a very good year last year - but I am very pessimistic about 2009, and therefore I am squirreling away my profits from 2008 rather than spending any of them. This of course will not help the economy at all! But at the moment I have a real psychological need of a financial 'cushion' to help me ride out the bad times.

I think the main problem is that I don't believe that anyone in charge really knows what they are doing, and are just trying random measures in a blind panic to see whether one of them will help the economy. And if they choose the wrong random measures and f**k it up some more, then we won't know until it's too late and the economy plunges even further.

So: personally I am experiencing a huge gap between the actual effects and the emotional effects of the credit crunch so far. Which sounds a bit daft, really!

Don't think you sound daft: you've summed up very well how the majority of people will be feeling.