I Could Just Scream

[ZPT1022]

Do any of you remember how things got in the early to mid 80's with the oil bust? I've seen comparisons to those times, and the times we're going through now.

There was an article in The Houston Chronicle comparing the recovery time and the issues then, to what's going on now and how long this is anticipated to last, and it was very interesting, not to mention scary.

It hit us extremely hard in the 80's. I had a two year old, wasn't working and my husband was getting home at 11AM every day because there was no work. And he was a plumber! That's how scared businesses were to spend money!

The stress was just unbelievable. I remember feeling like I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth. Ironically, when I think back to the worst of it, it was around Christmas time. One year, we had a tree and nothing under it, and the next year we didn't even put up a tree. When I hear those stories on here now, it just makes me wince.

I wasn't a homeowner then, but we did get our lease terminated by our landlord and we did have to borrow a lot of money from my parents (my two year old needed to have tubes put in her ears), and the worse thing about it, was that I ended up with some screwed up credit.

It did pass though, and hopefully this will too - quickly. It took us awhile, but we were able to pick up the pieces, and best of all, my children don't remember a thing about it.

Rambling... sorry.

I was only a kid in the 80's so I don't remember that, but it sounds scary

 

[arminnie]

Do any of you remember how things got in the early to mid 80's with the oil bust?

That's what I keep remembering when reading about todays troubles.

Houston did not have a recession - it was a full blown depression. I worked in the oil industry. We were bought out by Chevron - out of about 60,000 people about 50,000 (NOT an exaggeration) lost their jobs.

I saw so many people lose their jobs, homes and in a couple of cases their lives. There were literally no jobs and very, very few buyers for homes.

I know for people in their 20s and 30s today that is about as relevant to them as the depression was to me. But I've been around long enough to realize that for every boom there will be a bust. When things go crazy (like they did in the oil industry in the late 70s or dot.com in 2001) there will be a bust.

I had a terrific job with a huge amount of savings (and made a lot on the Gulf stock), but ended up having to cash in everything (and pay big taxes and penalties on the retirement stuff) to pay off mortgage companies. Housing prices were cut in HALF.

I had to take a 50% cut in salary, and it took me until the early 90s to finally get out of debt. I don't think any other thing has influenced my life so greatly.

The worst possible scenarios that I could imagine all happened to me and my friends in Houston. I don't think that anyone who lived through it will ever be able to totally put it behind them.

I swore I would never buy a home again (I'd owned 3 homes in Texas) and didn't until the mid 90s. Of course I couldn't afford to buy again for years anyway.

My sympathies are with those of you having to deal with this now.

 

[poohbear2]

Just talking to my mom about this tonight. My car used to cost 10 dollars to fill up now it costs 25-30. I spend about 6x on oil then I had a few years ago not to mention all the things that are breaking down suddenly. No WDW trips for awhile now.

 

[Liberty Belle]

There are a lot of people on this thread who are in the same situation. I didn't know that I had to be in danger of foreclosure to post on this thread. Maybe you should call out some of the others who like me have said that they are feeling the pinch but feel blessed for what we have. Or do you have an agenda?

Agenda? I have one, but neither you, nor the disboard are in it. I don't know why I found your post more insensitive than anyone else's, but I did. Maybe it's in the delivery.

Sorry about the tardiness of my response, but I just saw this in my sub. threads.

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

I hope things work out for you, OP...hang in there!