Is the Recession over in YOUR house?

[EthansMom]

Personally, we had our worst year (in recent history) just before the recession really hit the U.S. Then, this last year, DH had major health issues that required surgery last winter.

For our personal finances, our family is doing fairly well right now. However, some of our expenses (groceries, oil, etc..) have dramatically increased over the last couple of years. And, I know more people who've recently lost their jobs or fear losing their jobs than ever.

On a large scale, the economy may be making an uptick, but on a personal level, I think there are a lot of people still hurting.

 

[ChrizJen]

We have also not been greatly affected by the economic situation...
But DPartner may lose her job come January. She works in Physical Therapy for a nursing home. Medicare cuts are causing major cutbacks, and her job will likely get cut. So we may begin to feel the hit then. Just depends on the job market by the first of the year. I guess we'll wait and see.

I would say that for those of you who don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet...This is probably the reason the comment was made that it may take several months for any notable change. Give it 6-8 months, and I would venture to say that the job market may start taking a turn for the better.

 

[undertheradar]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

 

[bookgirl]

We were already heading towards cleaning up our finances (getting rid of credit card debt, mines done and my mom's is about half way), we have a fixed mortgage, we don't use credit cards to pay, we have a pretty good emergency fund, both independantly and as a household, two of us have stable jobs and the third got a promotion in Janurary (though he works in newspaper and that still has some shaky foundations, but his paper is doing well enough). We were paying more for food and essentials, but we were still in enough of a liquid state that we could buy a few wants as well. Not to say we aren't cutting back and that we won't continue to watch spending, but it's not so much a "when the bad times come..." but an "if the bad times come" attitude here now.

 

[wvjules]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

The reason I don't feel it is not because I live in a bubble. My income has steadily increased since the recession began. Even though stuff may cost more, I still have more money in my pocket.

 

[SaraJayne]

Neither here. Other than gas prices, it's had no effect on our way of life.

DH got two promotions this year (along with the pay raises) so we haven't felt it, and we're a single income family.

We've cut back and been fortunate to be able to build up our savings. We don't use credit and spend wisely.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

OP in response to your question, "Is the Recession over in YOUR house?"
We never had one here, I suppose it could be called luck, but that's not what we call it. Actually, last Friday, DH was offered a second job, but the end result is that he isn't going to accept it. The price of groceries has gone up, but not to a point that we notice it in our checkbook. We bought a new car in April, and we were considering buying DVC but have opted to buy a new home, of course after selling ours, first, then DVC. The house selling quickly isn't a concern because we will be selling b/c we want to, we don't have to sell. We had to use some of our savings for a family emergency over the summer, but we're basically done paying ourselves back on that. DH will be getting a raise next week. The craziest thing of all, we're a single income family

That being said, we do know financial hardship, all too well. My heart goes out to folks trying to keep it all together, been there

 

[monkey68]

It hasn't really affected us. I'm still in school, and nowhere near my limit in federal loans, so I don't need to worry about private. I guess you could say I was affected by it after my school cut the "school as lender" program, but it really wasn't a huge issue. My mom is a teacher and has tenure, my dad sells medical supplies and most of his clients have Medicaid or Medicare, and they haven't really changed the reimbursement on medical equipment much. His other clients are physicians, most of whom are in private practice, and they don't have a problem paying either.

 

[ChrizJen]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

I don't think that's really a fair assessment. First, most of the people on this thread have said that they haven't been "greatly" affected, or something to that affect. So we're saying that we've had to make a few changes here and there, but we've not had any devastating affects. We, for instance, have had to cut back on eating out and we didn't take a "big vacation" this year. But that's about it up to this point. And we don't live in a bubble either. I think to say that NO ONE has felt the affects would require living in a bubble, but it's completely legitimate to say that you haven't felt any great impact.

 

[Meriweather]

No.....DH's company had a 10% pay increase across the board, which isn't really that bad. It is supposed to be reinstated next quarter.
However, our house has been for sale for 18 months now with no offers.
We have our new house in AZ, so we are paying 2 mortgages and now supporting DD who hasn't had a job for 4 months and just ran out of savings.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

No, no bubble here, either. We don't have kids and all we did was stop eating out one more night a week to put more money in our vacation funds to cover dumb things like gas increases and the airline industries baggage fees. We both work M-F so our utilities are not that high to begin with...

We carpool together to work, so our gas isn't that much. Our insurance has gone up, but nothing I can't handle. We don't rely on credit so that isn't an issue for us, either.

 

[Poppinsme]

It never affected us as per say our jobs. Stock Market see below.

In fact I have had a HUGE amount of shifts(health care) since 2007. People cant afford health care or insurance so are on Medicaid which packs the hospitals.

(I am a health care worker who knows we need reform. But sadly wont get it.)

Anyhow many of my relatives and friends have been laid off or there jobs out sourced to India. American companies don't care about workers in the USA. All they care about is making more and more money.

We never use credit cards anymore. Put at least $500.00 a month in savings, no stock market ever again!
We lost thousands of dollars in the crash of 2008. And we had lost thousands in the crash of 2000. NO MORE STOCK MARKET. Wish Bush had given me a bail out!

 

[Angelhalo]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

I guess we must be in a bubble then. We both have new better paying jobs this year, no kids, and moved to a state with a better cost of living and lower taxes so we haven't really been highly affected by the recession, knock on wood. I know people who have, but we haven't thank the Lord.

 

[Barbossa]

On a day-to-day basis there's no negative effects of the recession. DW and I (knock on wood) are still employed, and life is pretty normal. However, the anxiety due to the recession and the possibility of losing our jobs is definitely there. Who knows what the future holds.

 

[mtemm]

not over here. dh was laid off last year and thankfully got a job after a couple of months, but for about half the money he used to make. things are TIGHT.

 

[ZachnElli]

Nope, not even close to being over for us. No light at the end of our tunnel.

 

[ahhappy]

I voted no- The worst is yet to come for us yet I fear. I was just laid off effective Nov 12. I have some time but still feeling very panicked about the job market....

 

[locolala]

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

Honesty it hasn't really effected us. We shop at the commissary, so there are set prices for food products. Our utilities haven't really changed much, we don't have any credit cards and go through the military banks for loans, and to top it off, the military raised our BAH (money for housing) and right now, we get about 800 dollars over what our mortgage costs. The only thing that has really changed is that we don't drive long distances as much, but we didn't do it all that often in the first place. Gas prices last summer were easily double what they are now, so gas hasn't really effected us.

 

[Lanshark]

Not hardly

 

[aprilgail2]

We were never in one - our jobs remained stable throughout this time - well so far they have. Both of our companies are offering overtime and have been consistently so I guess they are doing well and I received a generous raise this year.

.

Same here- I really never felt any difference- in fact I got a 3 percent raise last year.

I think that anyone posting that there has been no effect must be living in a bubble! What with grocery items costing more for less product, utilities rising, insurance rising, savings interest rates declining, credit lines shrinking while interest rates increase, gasoline rising again. It would be impossible to not feel the current recession.

Not in a bubble- My electric bill went DOWN 50.00 a month in the past year, my employer covers my health insurance,dental, optical and life insurance. I switched companies for car insurance and it went down 500.00 a year. My homeowners insurance did go up slightly, like 45.00 a year. My credit cards are the same, no interest increase and no credit line decrease. Groceries are about the same, maybe a bit more but not so much that it has much effect. Gasoline is finally going down, went down 20 cents in the past week (dropped 5 cents today from the time I went to work to when I was coming home). Interest rates are down but my 401K and daughters college saving plans are finally coming back around- they were losing money every quarter for the longest time, this past statement had an 18 percent gain!