Here, the main thing is we've eliminated all big ticket spending - no trip to Europe this year, no toys (guns, cameras, motorcycle, etc), home improvement projects on hold.

Day to day spending is tightened up, less Whole Foods and more Costco/Trader Joes, that kind of thing.

This is all sensible stuff, none of which impacts my enjoyment of life at all. Well, I would have liked a vacation in France but can't imagine being able to take the time off work anyway.

The other thing is that we checked out the local public and private high schools for my daughter (7th grade now) and decided she'll go to a public HS. It is clearly the best school for her specific desires (has high test scores, International Bac program, French and Chinese language, on mass transit lines) but not paying $16K/yr from after-tax income is certainly going to be a relief. Though I will have to rent a studio apartment in that HS's district for the first year, just to get her in - anyone going to want to sublet a studio in Portland in 1+ years?

My industry is in a severe slump, and while my little team is safe for this year by contract, the parent company has laid off 1/3rd of heads, across-the-board 10% pay cuts, bonus pool down by 2/3rd, so the concern level is high. We are more sensitive to the market than the economy, which is cold comfort.

Vacation????? I take one every 5 or 10 years if I need it or not.............

Really, I work, work, work to try & build our business, as I'm sure many others here do.

Just curious. Was I supposed to go blindly along spending vacationing and playing with my toys pretending my business was not loosing money at a record pace?

I saw this coming and got ready for it, did the economy tank because I was preparing for it to slow down so I self fulfilled?

I do not see it that way I see it as the smart people saw the pings and got ready, braced themselves. I am pissed at myself for not seeing this as far out as 2005. I would be in much better shape right now being 100% debt free. Now I have a small mortgage but even with these bad times we are working towards paying it back off.

This means I have to wear 3 hats at work doing pretty much everything. This last pay cut I took sucked but it will help my company a lot and hopefully I can make it through this mess. Although I have to wonder how bad its really going to get and hope I have myself set up correctly.

I learned a lot about myself these last 4 years and I will be living my life a lot different even after the economy picks back up. I made some stupid moves like leasing an Audi and buying a vacation home, 2 things I had no business doing.

My only consolation is I actually flipped that vacation home for a small profit.

my recollection is that you saw a downturn coming, warned your employees, and prepared for it. If you didn't see the magnitude of this downturn, that still puts you among the smart ones. Glad you are hanging in there. I was wondering where you'd gone to, but I still remember your old screen name and often overlook posts by the new one

What have we given up? Not much really. Our jobs are secure (at this point) & we have cash reserves to tap if need be. I moved a pile of cash into Registered Retirement plans which will reap a large tax savings which we will pour into more RR savings for more tax savings etc. Our house is paid for & our debt is negligible. Our small stock portfolio has dropped 1/3 but since it’s small, we will just ride it out. It’s Canadian bank stock & well . . . our banks are pretty stable here.

Since the Room Monkeys left Nov 1, our expenses have dropped significantly – food & auto in particular. I sold our money-sucking E46 which saves insurance & will also save the annual BMW ‘air bag light’ service charges. We have no problem existing with one car + the 911 as a play car.

We didn’t vacation last year in favor of bathroom renos & this I postponed – mainly because I just didn’t want to face it but also to keep the money in cash rather than Home Depot’s till – just in case. Our Italy/Sicily trip is still on at this point for May but I view that as therapeutic & necessary to give me a reason to work so I am determined to follow through with it but we will economize somewhat with cheaper restaurants & a cheaper car rental. Our flight is free anyway as well as 7 room nights compliments of Hilton.

My big question: If the economy is so bad, why are mall parking lots packed every weekend?

Ian

I do not post here much anymore. With no Porsche it seems kind of silly. I also do not have much free time anymore. My days start at 6 a.m. taking the dog for a 2 mile jog/walk (great stress reliever btw) then off to the gym for a quick weight lifting session (30 minutes and another great stress reliever) then report to work at 7:30.

We are out in the field performing mortgage surveys on foreclosed homes. Lately we have been doing 5 a day ( which = 150K + losses for the banks X 5) we come back into the office and raw them up then get ready for the next day.

We close at 12 on Friday and I am farting around "trying" to collect on past due bills. So many have stiffed me for so much its ridicules. So many builders have gone belly up in the last year. Many of my competitors too. If I can get through this to the other side I will be golden.

The sad part is I do not see an end in sight. Banks are hemorrhaging right now and we have seen a lot of strange bank names lending that we have never seen before.

A house that sold in 2007 for 250K can now be had in foreclosure for sub 50K. Its that bad. I do not think that is the bottom either. I think the house prices could hit 70's levels here before its over. I heard they are auctioning them off for 40K right now by the dozens.

We still have room to tighten up, both my kids are in private school, my older one is off to public school next year and we are going year by year with our little one. As long as we can afford to keep him out of public schools we will, even if it means cutting back at home more.

My 1 employee that is left is very expensive, I hope I do not have to get to the point where I have to cut his pay or let him go, he is my wingman and I could always count on him good times and bad. We are both basically making the same salary right now.

Same question here, we drive past the mall at times when we go out and its packed!!

We just look at each other in amazement.


I have been saying there will be a huge credit card crash by mid year 2009. I have been saying it since December last year.

People are going to malls to look, walk, hang out, and browse the "70% off" sales. Not so much to actually buy. Sort of like shopping therapy without the spending. My daughter is an example, she can have a fun afternoon at the mall with her friends once every three weeks or so and spend all of $35. Retailer same store sales still running heavily negative. Although some slight improvement in the past month, not enough to call any trend change.

Same here. My kids are getting an excellent education in their private school and that is a high priority for me.

Been liquidating spoons...

I always have lived pretty close to the bone, never put anything other then a hard asset which can be turned for same or more dinero on a Card.

I have some nice things that I bought over the years so I am getting to the point in life I don't need much of anything new...all it comes down to for me now is replacment of things like Washing Machines when they give up the ghost. Cloths, havn't spent $500 total on cloths in 5 years. Eating out, always has been on the cheaper side for me. Traveling I have been around and doesn't have much appeal for me.

I have been telling you Boyz about a Secular Round Head Revolution of austerity..this is what I have been talking about...cutting back is going to be the new normal. We ain't goin back to what was. The inner cities are going to become 3rd world countries, as if some of them are not already there. But try Haiti or Somilia poor...

The lights are going out over America...Sorry to say it, but that is reality.

The ONLY reason my son is going public next year is because he has applied for this school.

http://www.advancedlearningcenter.org/

They only accept 60 or so new kids per year and there are only 200 total in the school over 3 grades. He gets to duel enroll and graduate with a 2 year degree if he applies himself.

Sorry for the hijack, we have our fingers crossed he will be accepted. His essay was great and his grades are well above the minimum.

I don't know about that. When we were at Disneyworld 2 weeks ago it was packed solid on our last day there, Feb. 15, which they said is the first day of peak season, and also a Saturday. 1 hr + lines for some rides. Even the previous week was still quite busy - not at all what you'd expect in a recession.

I read somewhere recently that consumer spending accounts for THREE QUARTERS of the US economy. Just think about that for a second. Forget exports. Forget trade surpluses. Forget all that. Consumer spending runs your economy.

With that in mind, it seems to me that encouraging saving and cutting back is the WORST think the US could do right now. Now, maybe all that spending was on credit that's being called in, which is a house-of-cards economy, but then what that means is that the new economy won't rebound, and this what you're seeing right now is the reality that we'll all have to live with from now on. I don't think anybody really believes that to be the case.

Life is like a bathtub ;)
It has a drain and faucet.

I know it's hard to turn on the faucet when your hair is caught in the drain and your head is banging on the bottom of the bathtub, but just reach up.... find the tap and turn on the faucet; it's right there man. Take your focus off the drain for a second.

I've said it before; 6 days in a row focusing on what you want (turn on the faucet) and 1 day/week collecting data (the drain). Who gives a ratz butt what anyone else is doing? The question is how does it effect you?

It's all relative, you get what you want.

only thing taking a hit is my 401k but that wont be needed for 20+years. market sure to rebound by then.

but my current finances are doing better. last year only november and december were off

january and february are already at record levels. didnt go anywhere on my staycation in january mainly cause the weather sucked and things were flooded out.

car is finished for the most part for now...other than a new windshield if the crack does get bigger.

Disney reported Dec qtr parks and resorts revenue down -4% YOY and parks and resorts earnings -22% YOY (this excludes EuroDisney and HongKong Disney parks).

This is not a terrible revenue decline, but definitely rolling over from Sep 08 qtr revenue +4%, Jun +2%, Mar +8%. Looks like Disney is pretty concerned about future qtrs. From the Feb earnings call:

Walt Disney Q1 Earnings Conference Call Summary (20.62 +0.42) -Update : Disney had a challenging Q1 with all lines of business impacted to various degrees. Consumers and companies both are scaling back expenditure, emphasizing savings over spending, and it's unclear when this will change. Certain businesses are experiencing signs of secular change, as competition for people's time is increasing and the abundance of choice is allowing consumers to be more selective. This clearly has had an impact on broadcast television and may have a long-term potential impact on the DVD business. In essence, co does not believe the changes it is seeing in consumer behavior can all be attributed to a weak economy, and co feels it is important for it to address them as more than just cyclical issues... The strength of the guest experience offered combined with new marketing and pricing strategies has enabled the co to do reasonably well in terms of attendance and advanced bookings. Although co can cut some costs to compensate for somewhat lower revenue levels, it has determined to protect quality. As for parks and resorts, co says last year it had record high Q1 attendance at domestic parks. In this year's Q1, domestic parks attendance came in 5% below those levels, with roughly equal percentage declines at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Guest spending at domestic parks came in flat compared to the prior Q1, as slightly higher average ticket prices helped to offset lower merchandise spending. Co says room reservations at domestic resorts for fiscal Q2 and Q3 are currently running slightly ahead of the prior year, with strength in Q3 more than offsetting a slight decrease in Q2. The Easter holiday falls in Q3 this year versus fiscal Q2 last year, which helps explain this disparity between the quarters. The strength in the success of the "buy four, get three free promotion" is also helping but this promotion is resulting in greater discounting for these reservations. Parks team manages costs based on demand, but they are also committed to maintaining the premium guest experience, which in the shorter term can impact margins as it did in Q1...

Having to serve people are spending less is tough on margins. Disney announced last week it is restructuring its park operations, including layoffs and voluntary buyouts.

It is impossible for a casual customer to accurately judge park attendance trends. In other threads some have also said "look at how busy restaurants are, people are still spending", while the fact is that restaurants are reporting some of the worst business declines in decades. And as for the malls, is anyone in the slightest doubt that people are spending a lot less there, even if the parking lots are still crowded? Spend 5 minutes reading about retailer earnings and bankruptcies and there won't be any doubt.

We have given up nothing thus far, although we did forsake expensive vacations last year and so far this year in lieu of saving for something special and significantly costly.

That sounds good, hope he gets admitted. Website sounds like a lottery system to get in? Rather than judging an essay?

As for us, we decided to find an international baccalaureat (IB) program for our daughter. It is an alternative curriculum for high school that is quite demanding, has a lot of advanced classes, includes foreign language, and is well regarded by colleges. We also wanted her to continue studying french (she's been in a french immersion school since 1st grade) and chinese (studying for 2 years now). That pretty much narrows the choice of high schools to two, both public. The private high schools are mostly not conveniently located (1/2 hour drive, no bus/ bike option), lack IB, and lack Chinese language, and cost $16k per year. Well, that is a no brainer . . .

So all of the above is for the big IF?? If you loose your job?? I guess that's one thing about being relatively poor in the first place. I don't have to worry about taking insurance off a few sports cars, selling excessive cars, paying off umpteen CC's, I drink tasters choice anywhoo, not taking vacations.
Maybe a humble lifestyle is ok after all. Just my .02
To answer the question... nothing. Infact if I had a few bucks I'd start buying up real-estate like a banji!!
I would however stop doing lines off of hookers asses. I'd move to the tummy, I hear it's cheaper and you have a nice view of her panty line, mmmmmmm ;)

Given up:
-Buying a Ski condo-(luckily had a bunch of cash while looking and didnt lose it in the market!)
-New car-wife drives 9yr old MB ML320 with 122K (i just installed new shocks and brakes)
-Eating out- all quick stop and spendy dinners
-Driving fast-I aim for 30mpg in my BMW DD
-Guys ski weekend to Utah (this one hurts bad)
-loading up on beer and wine every weekend for the house
-Poland Spring water delivery
-turned the heat down
-probably summer vacation
-Starbucks-make espresso at home now
-dry cleaning-bought a bunch of non-wrinkle shirts for the office.

Every bit helps!!!!

That's an easy one. Twice this past week I've picked up a Starbucks latte, and both times my first thought was 'the ones I make at home for breakfast every morning in my $250 Sears machine are much better than these'.