Want to come home....seriously how is the economy in Phoenix?

[Calibelle]

My husband has extensive experience in his particular field. He was laid off at the beginning of the year, because his company went bust. He is currently getting a masters degree in his field of expertise, and also interviewed for several jobs, only to be told he is OVER qualified for entry level positions. Soon after his rejection emails come, we see the same job re posted on monster/etc. For the upper level positions, he is told that although his resume is impressive, they would prefer him to have a masters in his field. So he is getting his masters and after financially hurting so bad for almost 6 months, he now sells cars on a commission only basis.

It's been hard on our family, we have 2 kids.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

..

$280 a month...I set a $10 a day limit for daily essentials such as food, beer, etc.

LOL

Sorry Las Vegas Drunk. "Daily essentials" and beer in one breath. I chuckled.

I'm re-tooling to get by on less. A lot less. This downturn isn't over. It's not even close IMHO. The sever bleeding is just starting on the top. I know a few 100+ employees owner friends just hanging on; hoping. In general, businesses are not planing to hire for over a year. And when they talk about hiring, they are hoping / assuming versus seeing any turn around.

There is a lot of pain every where.

My 2 cents..

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Sorry Las Vegas Drunk. "Daily essentials" and beer in one breath. I chuckled.

I'm re-tooling to get by on less. A lot less. This downturn isn't over. It's not even close IMHO. The sever bleeding is just starting on the top. I know a few 100+ employees owner friends just hanging on; hoping. In general, businesses are not planing to hire for over a year. And when they talk about hiring, they are hoping / assuming versus seeing any turn around.

There is a lot of pain every where.

My 2 cents..

Your observation, although bleak, is absolutely dead on. Things are bad, and will remain bad for a long time. I completely agree. On the Las Vegas section of the forum, there were people with Bachelor degree's asking me if my company was hiring. I even told them the hourly pay, and they are more than willing to do it. This is when realty sits in. I saw it coming for a long time. There is a section of this forum that has taught me a lot here....

http://www.city-data.com/forum/frugal-living/

[Wyoming Darrell]

Until recently the recession hadn't affected us much, except possibly less home building. Now though, since we are dependent on energy use such as electricity ( we supply most of the coal used in generating plants west of the Mississippi river), natural gas (there are gas pipelines going to AZ, CA, etc), and people are not buying product in other areas, the manufacturers are not using energy. At that point it just snowballs. No manufacture, no pay, no pay, no buy, no buy, no manufacture and on and on.
With that said (which you all knew anyway), I have another couple points to make, and I hope you will bear with me.
In the early 70's, I had a nice paid for small business going (3 employees and a solid business) when a major flood hit our town and killed 236 people along with destroying my store and entire inventory. I was not insured at all but I considered my self lucky to be alive and borrowed the money to start over.
The next year the 1973 energy crisis hit which effectively destroyed my business and caused me to lose our home. At that point I left town with my tail between my legs and went to another state to start over. I started over there with a family to support and the business debt still to pay. I did it by taking a job at just over minimum wage and getting evening jobs as they came available.
Shift ahead to the late 90's and I retired due to health. Thankfully, we had saved all our lives and had a cushion. Then the stock market dumped taking almost 60% of our savings.
Now this.
My main point is not how well we have coped over the years, It is that anyone can cope with whatever comes up. You just have to change your lifestyle, sometimes dramatically, and start building again. Most of the people on here are young enough to have a long time left to recoup,
The last time I did it (before the stock market thing) I was in my early 50's, you can do it, too.
The ones that will have the easiest time are the ones who have already made the transition from the good times to the necessity of tightening their belt and taking the low paying jobs until they can get into their own field again.
We coped, others coped, you can cope.
I WILL cope, they WILL cope, you WILL cope.