Are you feeling the economic crunch?

[$ally]

Does it effect your vintage collecting? Have you changed your lifestyle to adapt? Will we dip as low financially as the 1930s?

 

[mike]

Nope, I'm riding high for the time being making great money at a great job. I view it as if I can acquire enough physical possessions before the entire financial collapse of our country, I can use those items to barter or trade for some crucial food or a warm place to spend the night. Gulp.

 

[Lady Day]

Lucky you, Mike. Youll be well dappered out for the beyond Thunderdome scenario

Check out this thread. Its chock full of stories and tips.

LD

 

[mike]

Lucky you, Mike. Youll be well dappered out for the beyond Thunderdome scenario

Check out this thread. Its chock full of stories and tips.

LD

I'm kidding around. But I do fear the collapse of our monetary/credit system and don't see how saving cash as digital information on a banks website will help anyone when its actually needed. Probably we should be investing in rice and cans of beans.

 

[Foofoogal]

Have you changed your lifestyle to adapt?

Absolutely 100%. Even moved to different place.
I figure if times get hard I can charge pennies to teach others how to be poor and I am not kidding. No.9 of 11 children it is ingrained in me.

Fast food junkies line up. First lesson today is a big ole pot of red beans. With a bit of bacon in them and if doing well some homemade cornbread.
Honestly, this last year makes me very, very sad and people truly are hurting. I am completely aware of this.

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=43616
I posted this thread in the Golden Era but this thread relates to it IMHO.
Agriculture and homemade is celebrated at the Fair. I think people seriously need to join something to become somewhat aware of feeding themselves.
The family farm may be passe and many large corporations now own them but some could be revitalized and children especially taught self sufficiency.
I get very emotional about this but am very concerned about our future children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/business/economy/29consumer.html?em

 

[Foofoogal]

the moon was towed here

lol lol :eusa_clap

 

[mike]

lol lol :eusa_clap

Do you know what that is referencing? John Lear was a guest on Coast to Coast AM and it was one of his theories/beliefs! Needless to say, I have listened to Coast to Coast ever since

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

It's hard to say; we've been living thriftily for so long, and the Mr. quit his longtime job as a letter carrier to become a full-time medical student a few years ago, before things got quite so grim economically.
For me, as a freelance artist, it's possible I've had a few fewer jobs as people cut out unnecessary expenses, but we're holding our own. My husband is now on rotations, which is basically working 40 hours a week for free (or paying to do so, if you consider this year's tuition); the other day he got caught up in a contract discussion at a hospital, where a doctor or PA turned to him and asked, "I mean, would YOU work for this salary?" Hub just smiled and said, "I'd work for a sandwich."
A lot of things people consider to be necessary (car payments, cell phone contracts, gaming systems, fancy tvs, 'proper' neighborhoods, etc), don't mean anything to us.
We do enjoy going out for a coffee, and sometimes for a drink, but with the booze, it's not a regular thing, and only one drink each, knowing we have a perfectly good $5 bottle of wine waiting at home.
Where you live has a lot to do with it too. There's no way we could live this easygoing lifestyle in many areas of the country; our mortgage is less that what my niece is paying for an efficiency apartment at college - crazy!
Hopefully we can continue to cut back on a lot of unimportant stuff, in order to have a little pocket money for the things we enjoy doing together.

 

[Miss 1929]

It's bad out there.

Since I am once again between day jobs, and the music biz is much less busy...

Definitely it has affected my vintage shopping. I pretty much don't. I splurged on two 30s hankies the other day, whee.

I am selling stuff off and not buying much unless it is to resell.

 

[Miss 1929]

Where you live has a lot to do with it too. There's no way we could live this easygoing lifestyle in many areas of the country; our mortgage is less that what my niece is paying for an efficiency apartment at college - crazy!

That is so true.

We would not have bought the house except I was making a lot of money, and promptly got laid off at the moment it was too late to back out of the sale. Now our mortgage is much more than our value.

And it is about 4 times what we paid as renters. And ever since that layoff, I have only been making about 1/4 what I need to pay the mortgage (if I was renting, I would be fine!).

So I am making wages like I lived in the boondocks, and paying for housing in one of the most expensive areas. Oh well, might as well wait it out. Someday we will make money on it - it's a large house with a large lot in a desirable area.

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

That is so true.

We would not have bought the house except I was making a lot of money, and promptly got laid off at the moment it was too late to back out of the sale. Now our mortgage is much more than our value.

And it is about 4 times what we paid as renters. And ever since that layoff, I have only been making about 1/4 what I need to pay the mortgage (if I was renting, I would be fine!).

So I am making wages like I lived in the boondocks, and paying for housing in one of the most expensive areas. Oh well, might as well wait it out. Someday we will make money on it - it's a large house with a large lot in a desirable area.

I really feel for people in that housing situation, and there are a lot of them, to be sure.
Not to date myself or anything, but back when we were qualifying for our mortgage, we were offered way more than we were comfortable taking (and this was the mid-90s). The agent kept insisting, "you know, you can qualify for $xxxxx, why don't we look at houses in that range?" I could only reply, "I don't want a payment higher than $xxx, thank you very much, so there's no point in looking beyond that figure."
We stuck to our guns and ended up with this 1917 beauty in a preservation area, for a fraction of what people are buying them for now. I'll always be grateful that we didn't get in over our heads.

 

[Foofoogal]

Do you know what that is referencing?

I thought is was referencing the moon rock that turned out to be fossilized wood. That is so funny to me. fftopic:

 

[mike]

I thought is was referencing the moon rock that turned out to be fossilized wood. That is so funny to me. fftopic:

Oh no, I didn't know about that. This was a quote from a guy I heard on a radio show. He was convinced that the moon was towed here and that there was an antenna on the moon which beams our souls into us when we were born and sucks them out when we die. He felt that we were an experiment from across the universe to see if souls could exist in carbon based lifeforms. He offered no proof or explanation how he came to that conclusion. But his dad did create the Lear Jet!

Ok, I'm sorry this was indeed off topic

 

[Miss 1929]

I really feel for people in that housing situation, and there are a lot of them, to be sure.
Not to date myself or anything, but back when we were qualifying for our mortgage, we were offered way more than we were comfortable taking (and this was the mid-90s). The agent kept insisting, "you know, you can qualify for $xxxxx, why don't we look at houses in that range?" I could only reply, "I don't want a payment higher than $xxx, thank you very much, so there's no point in looking beyond that figure."
We stuck to our guns and ended up with this 1917 beauty in a preservation area, for a fraction of what people are buying them for now. I'll always be grateful that we didn't get in over our heads.

Exactly. And it is even more frustrating that we DID qualify for more loan, but we DIDN'T get in over our heads, and then the whole game changed on us.

Makes me never want to buy another thing on credit as long as I live.

 

[Miss 1929]

Ok, I'm sorry this was indeed off topic

I think it wins the prize for OT! I thought it was a post to a wrong thread thing...lol

 

[Godfrey]

Does it effect your vintage collecting? Have you changed your lifestyle to adapt? Will we dip as low financially as the 1930s?

The impact seems to have been pretty low in Australia - other than some opportunistic laying off of staff from some companies! Its actually changed my shopping habits - a friend sent through some data on what it does to the economy when we buy from overseas and the environmental impact of the transport of all of these goods. So I've been going for Slow food (and home grown) and Slow Clothes (buying from local producers). I've actually had a fair bit of fun working out that I can get practically everything I wear made locally - helping the economy and supporting small business people. The best part is that it gives me an excuse to buy more Akubra Hats!

I don't think we will get as bad as it was in the 1930's (and the depression of the 1890's was the really bad one in Australian History that provides a better yard stick).

 

[Shangas]

Australians haven't felt the pinch as far as I know. I haven't.

While we're talking about all this, don't forget that the 80th anniversary of the Wall Street Crash (Oct. 29, 1929), is only a couple of months away...

Will history repeat itself?

 

[mike]

I think it wins the prize for OT! I thought it was a post to a wrong thread thing...lol

I didn't bring it up, I am just explaining it. Anyway, Coast to Coast AM is on every night fo' free all over the country. It's always full of weirdo, exciting topics! How's that for keeping quality of life colorful and cheap during hard economic times!

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"The Swan River Colony was going through a B O O M, it was rather crazy, one was unable to get any tradesperson to fix things, they were all too busy, and when they did turn up to give you a quote they would be driving a BMW. now the brogue is on the other foot, and they are doing letter drops. pleading to weed ones garden, clean gutters, too late i have been to TAFE to learn how to rewire my house, unblock sinks!!!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan

 

[Foofoogal]

Bravo for you Binkie.:eusa_clap lol