How are your SO/spouses reacting to the economic news???
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We saw some of this coming on a few years ago and made cut backs then. We're both young, so haven't lost much in the 401k dept. No worries there. We live extremely conservatively, no credit cards, car payments or other revovling loans. We also cut back on our expenses by decreasing our financial responsibilities; I had 6 horses and now only have 3. The only down step we took was the property we purchased in 2005 when we thought we had steady jobs. Turns out we didn't.. and had to move out of state to get new jobs after both of us being laid off for over a year. Thus.. the mortgage payment is a huge burden on a piece of land that has decreased at least 40% in value since purchasing (in a state that nothing is selling). Fortunately, we cut back and live conservatively, so the mortgage + rent that we're paying now is manageable.
We've have seen a huge increase in our groceries expenses, but have decreased our gas expense because of my husband's job. He home garages his work vehicle, so only my 33mpg Toyota is on the road daily.
He is very intelligent with investments and already has some great ideas to move forward with. We haven't put the money out because of other things popping up lately. We both are sure our jobs are secure at this time and we work within a large enough company that transferring is an option.
We have had, however, to help a friend (same age, single and supporting himself) financially over the past few weeks. He has more financial responsibility than we do and he was already cutting it close living paycheck to paycheck. His line or credit was shut down with his bank abruptly 2 weeks ago despite having a good payment history with them and his sh t finally hit the fan. Having the borrow money from friends has been enough of a setback that he is now figuring out a new strategy on how he is going to survive, and I am helping him come up with solutions on how he can reduce his expenses.
I think as things getting tougher, we will be seeing a bigger shift in the younger people... Those living independently will either be moving back home or rooming up with other people just to survive. Even in areas of the country with low cost of living, people are struggling - those areas also tend to have fewer jobs available as well.
I am so sorry to hear about your unemployment for such a length of time. This must be scary but at least you were wise enough to live without credit and much debt...most of the country is probably wishing they had done the same.