Are You Feeling the Recession? (Sioux Falls, Huron: sale, HOA fees, mortgage)

[uncleharley]

I'm retired so I don't have to be concerned about a business going under or being laid off from a job. The kids have moved out so my grocery bill isn't that much and utilities are less than I am used to. Having said that, I also discovered I could save nearly 1/4 of my gas bill by turning the hot water heater down. What groceries I buy, I get at Aldi's, the cheapest grocery store around.
I had been putting off buying a new car, because the old one was still running. Well, I finally had a breakdown on the highway and decided it was time to trade. There are lots of cheap, late model used cars available, but most of them are the bigger, gas hogs. If you can use one of those, this is a good time to trade. If you are looking for something that is easier on gas, you may as well go new, because the good ones do not exist on a used car lot. Also, you have probably heard that there is a credit crunch out there???? Don't believe it. The dealer got me 3 quotes for 100% financing for 5 years on a new RAV4. Low bid for interest was 5.12%. I turned all three down & paid cash because I had been stashing away a car payment every month when the beater was paid for.
I don't know anyone personally that is out of work, but everyone else seems to know of someone and I do know 2 people that took retirement sooner than expected.

uh

[debey]

Originally Posted by prairierose

According to my trusty atlas, Pierre is in Hughes County.

Correct........

I will try & get a post, in this thread, later, tonight, after G~son is sleeping....when I can concentrate, LOL......

[uncleharley]

SDhomesteader, I almost forgot. It's good to see you are still posting and I hope you are doing fine. I just wanted to mention that I watch a lot of markets pretty close and it looks like gasoline is ready to pop up 40 or 50 cents a gallon. If you can swing it, you might want to fill one of those tanks pretty soon. Gasoline is not going to go as high as it was for a couple years, but why pay more than you have to.
Good Luck
uh

[Jammie]

HMMM, another person who stashes away to buy a car instead of financing it? That conversation came up and I was called a "tight wad". Personally, I like to think of it as being thrifty.

We have a friend who works for a car dealer in another state and the banker told them that the media has people too scared to even come in and ask for financing, but there was money available for it. I dunno though. People are thinking about the possibility of losing their jobs so I think they'll try to make it with the vehicle they have right now. Who wants to add a car payment to their rent bill when you don't know if you'll still have a job next week? The area our friend lives in has nearly a 10% unemployment rate.

I'm actually due for a newer car, too even though mine is in good shape. But we're probably going to be able to drop down to one vehicle within the next couple of years so I'll just hold off on that.

And light bulbs~I forgot that we had put the energy saver light bulbs in a couple years ago. I have no idea whether it helped our bill or not, but my guess is it may have.

Gas going up again??? It's not good news, but if I understand that correctly, it'll put a lot of refinery people back to work in Tx. and that's a good thing. I don't really drive enough for it to have a terribl effect on me. BUT I imagine that will make groceries and everything else go up again. They didn't even drop it from the last time when gas went down and I'm sure they'll figure we forgot about that.

Yup, Pierre is Hughes Co. I know Debey was gonna look it up, but I figured she needed some extra play time.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Pierre-South-Dakota.html

[pammybear]

Hi everyone again! Yes, Jammie we use those energy saver bulbs too--I think ours are fluorescent. My dh also loves shopping at what I call the "Scratch and dent" shop---kind of like Robb's in Sturgis if you've ever been. He gets great bargains there and now they know him by name! Great "seeing" everyone again! Keep the good ideas coming!

Pam

[uncleharley]

52.5% females in Pierre. Why is there so many women in Pierre????
uh

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by uncleharley

52.5% females in Pierre. Why is there so many women in Pierre????
uh

That's a good question and I've often wondered the same thing and not just specifically with Pierre. In most of the census stats, women outnumber the men. I dunno~are there really more females then males in our country?

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by Jammie

That's a good question and I've often wondered the same thing and not just specifically with Pierre. In most of the census stats, women outnumber the men. I dunno~are there really more females then males in our country?

There's more females than males all over the world except in China and some Middle Eastern countries where men are considered more "valuable".

[Chris19]

There is a Harding county and it is the northwesternmost county in South Dakota. It is a hare over a 1,000 people and its county seat is Buffalo, which is 300-400 people.

Buffalo County is betwen Pierre and Chamberlain east of the Missouri. It has Ft. Thompson and part of the Lower Brule Indian Reservation is in Buffalo County. Outside of the reservation, there are very few people in the county. The stretch between Pierre and Ft. Thompson is very desolate and there is a 45-50 mile strech of no towns and there are very few homes in between.

[SDHomesteader]

Be Careful on those Energy Saver Bulbs, 95% of them have mercury in them and aren't supposed to be Thrown out with Ordinary Trash, they are considered an environmental hazzard.