Unofficial Economic Poll

[Wildsky]

Wildsky do you think you could have your husband talk to mine. I long for that drive east. I think you made an amazing decision. Your lucky you left in 2007. Heck I wish I would have sold my house then. Where abouts were you in San Diego?

g

We really got lucky - with a house waiting for us, but houses are really cheap out here compared to San Diego

We lived in Clairemont for a while, years ago. We then moved to Santee (just off Prospect) and then around the corner in El Cajon (off Pepper drive)

My hubby is a real "city" guy, I think he struggles living in the middle of nowhere, but he understands that its 100% better than where we were. We moved more for the children, and there were a few news stories that gave us that extra push at that time.

One story was those kids trying to poison their teacher - I think they were 5th or 6th grade kids.
The other story was about a guy in Santee somewhere who jumped over someones backyard wall to expose himself to the 5 year old little girl.
Another story was from Ramona, where a kid took a gun to school.

After all those, we knew it was time!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

You obviously have not been paying attention - You send a little old lady to hunt it for you.

The guns and ammo come in when you have to get it away from that same little old lady.

I can see the headlines now. Great hunter and Greatgranny draw weapons and shoot it out over chocolate.

 

[FarmerChick]

you sure picked the right time to move Wildsky

a calm, easy existence is Priceless with family!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

ya know in my area TONS of BIG churches are being built....weird
and we have a new nice hospital happening near town.

other than that, not much happening...housing being built is almost non existent whereas houses were giong up overnight in old farm sites sold out for the last 5 years like crazy....all that is over right now.

 

[savingdogs]

We have seen very much of a downsizing over the last few years. My husband's company has gone from 50 employees to around five. His pay, bonuses and benefits have been cut several times. We've downsized our home, but we lost so much value on the first home it ended up in foreclosure instead of selling. We feel very lucky to have found this home in the country with five acres on an owner-will-carry loan so it is ours even though our credit is ruined now. Due to medical bills we owe money all over so we cannot spend any unnecessary money for a long, long time and we hope like heck to hang onto this place.

My job is working at a veterinary clinic. They are a long established practice but let one person go a few months ago and we all absorbed the person's job. Next everyone's hours were cut and overtime was especially not allowed. My employers are wonderful and honorable generous folks, but they have to keep their business viable for all of us to retain our jobs.

My daughter (grown) had worked in the restaurant industry for many years and recently lost her job when the restaurant closed. She is currently pregnant so it is awfully hard to job search with a big round tummy.

My husband who is multi-talented and not particular has not been able to find a second job to supplement his income despite looking for two years and our teenage son has not found employment either.

I'd say things are not good around here despite still being employed. We are back to waiting for payday to buy necessary items, which we had not had to do since the early days of our marriage in the 1980s. Frankly I'm tired of it already and want to be more self sufficient so I don't have to buy so much stuff at the store or pay so many bills!!!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

WOW Dunegan---times hit you hard definitely.

What steps can you take toward more SS....like do you burn wood or anything? that sure cuts that darn elec. bill down by tons.

just wondering how you are moving forward.

 

[SKR8PN]

SKR8PN--Sorry you're having slower business. I can totally understand, as that's exactly what we're doing with our car right now. Just hobbling it along until we have to make the big decisions about it.

The news today is that only 11,000 jobs were lost nationwide in Nov. In Jan it was between 500,000 and 700,000 (bad memory). The job loss rate is slowing. I'm heartened to hear about Obama's job summit yesterday as well as his/his staff's meeting with a spectrum of people/business across the nation to come up with solutions.

As for "where," I have no idea! Is there any type of business or industry that is actually growing right now? The gov't $ is helping some, but I believe those are mostly temporary jobs. My parents hired some part-time carpenters through stimulus money, but it was very specific to zip-code jobs and once those jobs are done, the job is ended.

One thing I am VERY thankful for, is the fact that is doesn't cost me one dime more to open the shop, than it does to keep the doors shut. The shop is 10 ft (really!) outside my backdoor! I learned a loooong time ago that I could stay home and have a BAD attitude.... I didn't need to drink a pot of coffee, trying to talk myself into going to work, then DRIVE 7 miles, just to get pizzed off!!

As far as folks moving?? MOST of my customers that have left the area, head down to North or South Carolina. Just had another customer inform me Friday that he and his wife are getting their house ready to sell so they can move there as well.....what SUCKS is they have a very VERY nice home....and they are prolly gonna lose their butts when they sell it.....
I think I'd rather stick around and see what happens. My house is paid for, no bills other than insurance and utilities... I figure they will have to BURY me here.

 

[savingdogs]

We do have a wood stove at this new house and plenty of wood. It heats the house about 80 percent. We have small space heaters that we are trying not to use in the other rooms that are too far from the wood stove. Wood comes from our property.

We are making our own laundry soap from a recipe that we found on BYC and also use it for dishwasher detergent.

We own chickens now and hope to sell enough eggs in the spring ans summer months to help pay for themselves. Right now we are still on the investing side, but we built our chicken coop pretty much from stuff that was laying around. We do lots of stuff with our farm fresh eggs including using them as gifts.

Our one luxury this year was getting started with baby dairy goats. We hope to make soap and cheese when they are old enough. We have plentiful forage so the investment is not great beyond the initial one for the animals. I hope to start a small soap making business if I get good enough at it. I have an inner ear imbalance and may have to go on disability at some point. My issues are fluctuating however and would want a little side job to keep me busy when I'm well. Starting this now is kind of a little insurance policy for me (I wanted to goats for the milk to add to the soap) We also need alot of blackberries to disapear.

We volunteer heavily with a dog rescue group so we get our dog food and certain cat supplies for free. (Expired but still good)

We try to cook very economically and not eat out any more. We buy in bulk and make things from scratch. We eat too much cheap food like Top Ramen, rice, and peanut butter sandwiches.

We are going to do a homeschooling program for our son who is still school age (actual a public school online) to cut down on school expenses. It is a free online course he can do at home.

We have also thought of starting a boarding kennel as we are really good at taking care of dogs, but at this point our local economy would not support a new facility in our area. So I'm settling for learning that business working in one. I actually work in the boarding section of the veterinary hospital.

My older teenage son created a website online to help people tweak their websites and made a little money that way.

I make my own jam and use the goats and a push mower to mow our lawn.

My pregnant daughter is collecting unemployment for the moment and collecting food stamps. They actually give her more food money than she used to spend on herself for just food so at least she is okay in that aspect.
But things are certainly not good. Luckily we have great employers who love us. I also had a nice little car before all this hit we owned free and clear.

It is humbling to be broke again in middle age however. Perhaps I was getting to cocky and needed to be knocked down a peg.

 

[SKR8PN]

SKR you were so smart to see the writing on the wall in 06 and change yourself toward the better for survival.

very interesting to read about your changes and how it all effects you.

Not so much smart, as we were lucky......we were never ones to keep our heads stuck in the sand.

 

[Big Daddy]

Our kids did an online program for 2 years. It worked pretty well. The only reason we sent them back to public school was to teach them social skills. They really love it. We do miss not being constantly sick. Ever since they went back to school it has been one sickness or another.

Good thing your place is paid for Scr8pn. If things get really bad it will be good not to have the bank knocking on your door.