Are you spending less this Christmas?
Bonus: What are the odds you'll lose your job (or income) in 2009?
December 3, 2008
Soot and Ashes Serious Question of the Day
Are you spending less this Christmas?
Bonus: What are the odds you'll lose your job (or income) in 2009?
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61 comments:
About the same as last year.
What do you think?
Same as last year but on a vacation instead of electronics.
If I lose my income it means the entire house of cards a fell...not just the top 75%.
Well, I just got a job today. Had been unemployed for 2 years.
But hey, I'm a contrarian person, so I guess it's ok for me to get a job when all hell breaks loose.
Our family just doesn't spend much on Christmas, period. But I am so sick of this whining about a scroogey christmas! (If everyone in America regifted something from the back of their closet and cooked something found in the back of their own freezer, we'd still be a nation of overweight people with too much stuff!! Get outside and take a long walk. Count birds with the Audobon Society. Count your blessings. Puhleez!)
That aside, I am planning for less income in 2009. And 2010. And 20011 and 12. Then we'll see...
F*ck Christmas. Bah Humbug. Go into debt you can't pay, I dare you. The FEMA debtors prisons await.
Job Gone. This is GREAT!
Large savings paying nice interest, Positive cash flow far, far into future thanks to prudence, doing without for years and good long-term investments so who cares?
Time to take stock, rebuild relationships, see old friends and travel some. Pump some iron too. It worked for Arnold...
Oh yes, and watch the US, the Turd World Nation of Nothing implode and die like a rabid dog.
My "its a woderful life movie" includes George Bush crawling by himself, alone, drunk in the filthy gutter, wet in the shit-brown snow with a booze bottle in each hand, a torn suit coat and a three day stubble from bar/whorehouse hopping and then when the guilt of the responsibility of killing all the soldiers and causing so much misery and grief to innocent people washes over his educated conscience, he decides to irrevocably tie a steel bar to his leg and jump off the bridge without leaving a note...
(too bad George didn't plan ahead, as the river was dry. The fall took care of him despite this last huge chracteristic mistake, anyway.)
What a happy ending. The people cheered. Curtain Down.
HI TOOLS!!!!
APOLOGIES FOR MY OUTBURST YESTERDAY!!! I WASN'T EVEN DRINKING!!!!! I WAS BEING THE TOOLBAG THAT I AM!!!!!
Q1 - YES, I WILL BE SPENDING LESS!!!! I HAVE EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT SKIPPING ON THE TREE THIS YEAR!!!!! I MAY GET A SMALL ONE, THEY SMELL NICE!!!!
Q2- BONUS????? WHAT BONUS?!?!?!? THE BOSSES MADE OUT LIKE BANDITS THIS YEAR BUT THE STAFF ARE GETTING THE SHAFT!!!! SORRY, WE HAD TO RESURFACE OUR PARKING LOT NO BONUS THIS YEAR!!!!! I MAY WANT TO LOSE MY JOB BEFORE 2009!!!!! IT IS FUNNY, THEY CANNOT FIND QUALIFIED PEOPLE TO WORK HERE BUT THEY MAKE YOU FEEL THAT YOU SHOULD BE GREATFUL TO BE HERE!!!! GEE, IS THAT WHY YOU CANNOT REPLACE THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE LEFT?!?!?!?
TOOLS!!!!
DOLTS!!!!
DOPES!!!!
I'll be spending about the same. Small presents (and often practical ones, and little toys for the kids) have been the rule in my family for generations of Hannukah celebrations.
Less. Much less.
Only giving to people that we really need/wish to gift (kid nephews, parents, God children). And not going overly crazy there - decent but not extravagant.
No goodie baskets to semi-close acquaintances this year. Most could use a few pounds off anyway.
Who cards. You get another job and move on!
Anonymous, congratulations on the new job!
Yes, spending less, I have cash to spend, but we planning to spend 50 percent less this year. Job is secure and getting 2 raises come 2009, yeah, I can pay the higher property tax and higher cost of living and still come out with extra money.
Quick reminder: Jesus was a Jew and did not celebrate Christmas
I would expect all yee followers to do the same.
My flaming bitch Realtor sister in law (OK please shut up, thank God only related by marriage) gave me this really nasty recycled sweater last year. Super ugly, thin scratchy material. Was a size large. I'm short and wear a small, she's a great big girl. Sorry SA'ers but she was literally bursting out of a woman's XXL at my wedding, I swear one deep breath and it would have been a horrible NC-17 wardrobe malfunction. She refuse to go another size up, despite diplomatic pleadings by several of her own relatives.
Bet you anything someone gave it to her, but didn't have the nerve to fork over clothes marked with the right size because she would be insulted. So used home sales are down and she decides to pass it to me with all the tags ripped off. She's getting so desperate I've heard her tell clients that a garage can be converted into offices and bedrooms, and the place can be flipped because it's here'. Yeah, whatever. Well I don't need another stupid sweater anyway so said thanks and brought the thing down to the basement and it stayed there until i could donate it.
NO WAY am I spending a pile on this chick this year. Sorry but i really don't think she can cut it as a stripper, but I'd love to give her a nice little pole dancing outfit for a moonlighting job.
Canceled Christmas last year, No tree nuthin. Grown boyz were being very bad. May have it this yesr may not. Depends on if they are in school or working, or doing nothing.
Nothing to do with the recession, just a rant.
FMW
Yes, spending less on extended family after we came to an agreement to reduce the gifts which is music to my minimalist ears. Less is more, people. Less is more.
No, buying our daughter her first cello - it's a fire sale that we can't pass up.
Incomes are the same for 09 so far.
I will be spending MORE!!
Now that I don't have to pay the mortgage and will be living rent free for a year, I will ask Connie how much she charges for a lap dance on X-mas eve.
This party ain't over yet.
I might still be in this crap box next year too, so X-mas will be even better next year!
Hopefully I can keep suffering and be a victim of this housing crisis.
Well, recently I have curtailed my free spending habits. I am saving more and more money. So far I have saved 24 months of expenses in case both my spouse and myself were to lose our jobs. I hope we don't enter into a serious economic downturn. But in case we do, we will be ok.
Keith, gold is downnnnnnn!!!!!
buying nothing commercial; and only a few cash gifts (hey, gotta bail out my friend ya know)
"bonus" has turned into "Bone Us" for many of the unwashed masses this Christmas
Just make sure you write a letter to Bernake-claus saying you've been a very bad bank this year, and loansharked money to people who could kick your ass with one hand tied behind their backs.
Helicopters aren't as impressive as flying reindeer, but so long as he stops by my neighborhood I won't complain.
Yeah, because I plowed all my money into stocks after they tanked, then my main positions developed some 'problems' and they tanked again.
Same as last year. I don't go overboard on Christmas, so there is no need to cut back.
Could lose it in 2009. More likely in 2010 though.
Noodles-
Job is still semi-solid but my boss (The Terminator)says state out of $$$ by Feb.
Been trying to whittle everything down for 2 years and am with in sight of being debt free.
But trip on this as we say on the streets...If I pay my debt off but the economy colapses what good will it do me?
If I just stay afloat and aquire all kinds of things to get me through the rough patch (guns, silver, ammo, extra food etc etc)and just send in minumum won't it be better for me and mine in the long run?
If I knew economy would last say 2 more years I'll pay anything less seems like taking food out of my mouth in the future.
Food for thought...It will only crash and be bad in Black cities...Most other cities will just wittle down and hunker...We'll end up in some semi-V for Vendetta America.
By the way I work as a peace officer and they made us FEMA for "disturbances." So yeah be a lil scared.
much less. one whole family unit (bro-in-law, wife, son) has unilaterally cancelled. all the others are getting grocery store gift certificates.
I get paid in USD. I doubt my income increases more than the amount the currency gets debased.
I lose.
Spend the same.
WAY less, like 80%. Agreed with equally broke family and friends to skip or pare way down on gifts.
I'm looking forward to this trend away from stuff and xmas shopping. You always end up searching for something to buy someone that doesn't need anything with $$ you dont have..just because you 'have to'. Silly.
I am spending a lot on myself this year thou - unfortunately it will be at the dentist. So he will have a nice Christmas.
We are spending less, only to give the entire family a break from the past indulgences and show some direction. Both my 30 yr old "kids" are well off and are in recession proof industries, but enough is enough. I am a retired baby boomer so I don't give a hoot, but I want to pass sacrifice and self control to my offspring.
I'm spending less this year because I have some relatives who are broke and can't get any equity out of their house. So we are not exchanging.
We will try to get something for my 16 year old grandson (I live with my son). Maybe I will be able to send something to great grandchildren; I don't know. None of adults expect anything at all, nor would it do any good. My son has been ill, and is regaining his strength, but isn't getting as much work as before. I am retired (social security) and stretch as I can...Our income is definitely lower. I am not sure what we are going to do about it. We live in an apartment but I definitely see need for a garden space. Grandma pkk
Probably less than last year, please refer to the following essay for my feelings on "shop till ya drop":
by poet Andrei Codrescu (off the NPR website)
Deadly Stampede At Wal-Mart Not Surprising
After Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush told us to go shopping.
Seven years later, Lehman Brothers went under.
In the aftermath, our panicked leaders prophesied doomsday if we didn't immediately go shopping to save America from recession.
And so we went shopping! We so went shopping, in rumbling herdlike elephant masses, we killed a guy who didn't get out of the way fast enough. It's a tragic incident, but by no means meaningless. Shopping is a religion, and some religions demand sacrifices.
The Wal-Mart employee died for us on Black Friday, but have we stopped to think what his sacrifice means? Not at all: We're stampeding right on through to the other side of Christmas. We aren't just shopping: We are saving America.
There were some voices that said on TV that maybe we should start saving instead of shopping. We heard those voices, too, especially when gas was $4, but we seem to have quickly forgotten them. Save what?
The business of America is business. And for you and me, Mr. and Mrs. Citizen Average, that means shopping.
I'm not going to make anything out of the fact that the killer mob stormed Wal-Mart, not Neiman Marcus, because the tragedy could have happened anywhere. Shopping mobs are unstoppable regardless of whether they are after diamond-encrusted slippers or Chinese lawn ornaments. The urge is the same: Get to it before they quit running the sale ads and America goes down.
And now that we are officially in a recession and too tired from shopping to figure anything out, they are making us feel guilty of murder, which we may well be. But we were just following orders.
I spent more than ever this year.
Not much for myself and not on consumer goods.
I randomly handed out cash to people in need. Mostly strangers.
A $100 bill may not really change their lives, but at least it may give them hope that there is truth to the saying "random acts of kindness towards strangers".
Are you spending less this Christmas?
ANSWER: I am, but my out of work sister-in-law is pushing that we all still buy gifts for every one of our nephews and nieces. Goes to show you that Dumb-Shit-Crazy has staying power- Not even economic realities can cure it. My sister-in-law needs a monthly family "loan" to help make her mortgage payment but she still wants to go all out on Xmas presents because "it's the right thing to do."
Bonus: What are the odds you'll lose your job (or income) in 2009?
ANSWER: 40% for me; 85% for my wife. In preparation for unemployment and hunger, I have started to layer on the body fat. I have also taken up Chinese to assist me in mingling with the future owners of our country.
"A $100 bill may not really change their lives, but at least it may give them hope that there is truth to the saying "random acts of kindness towards strangers"."
Elvis siting! I can use a little hope. Please send $100 my way. I can use some Oprah truth too!
Spending is down for me, despite almost guaranteed job security (yes, I work for the government). Down, that is, unless you include firearms purchases.
Spending? The same.
Lose my job? No.
Wife lose her job? No.
Debt? No.
Shelter? Rent.
Portfolio? All cash till Jan 1 at a minimum.
Here's to 2009!
I am spending about half of what I spent last year on Christmas gifts. I did a stupid thing and quit my job this year. I have now been out of work for 3 months and counting. I am debt free though, so not hurting too bad yet. But I will need to find some kind of job in a couple months. And I won't be quitting this one. They will have to throw me out!
Spending less, on purpose. Not because I have to, but because I'm pissed-off at the way things are going, and the most revolutionary, "fuck-the-system" thing I can do in a peaceful, Gandhian way is to buy nothing. Bring it all down!
I'm not worried about losing my job because I work as a nurse in a government hospital. They won't start sacking us until civilisation has collapsed to the point where sick people are dying in the streets. If it gets to that point, we're all dead. Gives me a lot of confidence, that I've got a job until we're all dead...
I'll spend more.
This compared to last year where I had no job, almost no money = $10 Target Gift cards for everybody! Yayy!
Hundreds of Angry muslims burning effigies of Sam Walten, mob the parking lot of a small town WALL-mart, AK-47 going off evrywere in the croud,
screaming and shouting
Alah! Alah! No WALL in mart!
No WALL in mart!
No WALL in mart!
Alah! Alah!
No mart in WALL!
No mart in WALL!
I'm spending about the same this Christmas. Which isn't much.
As for my job, I work in software for the investment management industry - how do you think it's going?
The little software company I work for is owned by a big bank. The big bank has so far announced a 4% reduction in its global workforce. No layoffs announced for the little software company but quite a few consultants are on the bench.
I'm lucky, my little group within the little company within the big bank is actually extremely busy right now. But this can be cyclical.
I'm working on a project that has at least a year left. I'm not counting any chickens though because the client can be very disagreeable and they might just decide to kick me off the project. These things happen all the time.
To summarize - I'd give myself a 5% chance of losing my job in 2009. But I'll be worrying about it constantly.
I've got $1k in credit card debts and I'm gonna ramp it up to $1.5k. My hope is that hyperinflation'll cancel it out.
Then I could freeze to death in a street corner somewhere.
It'll be AWESOME.
I've never been a big spender for Christmas gifts for friends and family. I give cash to my office staff.
Lose my job in '09? I'm a bankruptcy lawyer. Haven't had a day off in two weeks.
Nick,
Haha- so now you are a f*cked saver as well with 24 months of expenses saved up? Well get ready to get screwed as well my fine feathered friend...
I was out of work from May to October this year but am now working as the CEO of a small company, about 900 people. Revenues are falling off a cliff and I'm in the tough role of having to lay people off. Cold comfort for getting a paycheck, just something that needs to be done for survival.
I didn't change my spending habits but I was never a big spender to begin with. I won't be in the US this Christmas so the gift count will be way down this year.
-Mike
I didn't think I'd lose mine but then the company I work for learned that their biggest customer went illiquid....
although, honestly, I've been cutting down for several years now and both friends and family are happier than ever since they feel less pressure to show off through packages all tied up with strings.
in this economy, nothing is wrong so I play the piano, go on long walks, etc....
about the same.
but then again, we are not ones to spend needlessly.
I'm convinced that the $8.5 Trillion in committed bailouts is only the beginning.
YES, it will take a while for that money to work its way into the market for REAL PRODUCTS. How long? I have no idea, but best guess is that we start to see massive inflationary effects by Summer of '09 on main street.
SO I DECIDED TO BORROW THE LIMIT AGAINST MY 401K, took this money and am now hitting the stores for durable goods. I have cleaned out every store in my area of my size of shirts, pants, jackets and other items of clothing. I have installed storage shelves and storage bins in the basement to store all kinds of stuff that is no longer produced in the USA. My goal is to have a 10+ year supply of the things that I believe I will I need long after the USD is demonitized.)
Sometime in early '09, I will cashout enough funds from the 401K to cover the loan and taxes that I will get hit with paying in April of '10.
What are the odds you'll lose your job (or income) in 2009?
hey, I thought you said there wouldn't be any math questions!
spending the same. we have never spent a lot during Christmas.
doubt I will lose my job or income but I do expect to make less next year. I own several businesses. 2008 has been better than 2007 for me. i will consider 2009 to be a raging success if business is flat compared to 2008.
nope, i have informed everyone that due to the 400 dollar per month thievery of the oil companies during the summer, they got the christmas money and i am not going to break myself on the last month of the year pouring more money into anyone else pockets. as far as I am concerned i have pumped enough money into the economy the whole year and if that wasn't good enough too bad. when i keep seeing pictures of executives living in 25 million dollar homes and have four or five other homes, i think i am breaking myself for them to live like that, so after the oil scam of 2008 my coin purse has snapped shut.
Spending less. Job loss is a definite possibility.
Spending creates jobs . I am going to spent the same because I can afford it and the prices are pretty good right now ,so why not ?
I am spending, but not much on Christmas. I lost my job in August. I need to make money, but I am also a student, so I don't know how this going to happen, but I am getting close to running on fumes as it is. Happy holidays.
I love when people say they are going to spend less at Christmas this year. If you asked most of the people who say they are going to spend less this year exactly how much they spent LAST year, they wouldn't have a clue. We truly are a nation of sheeple... "Well, Katie Couric told me I should spend less on Christmas this year, so that's what I'm gonna do! I guess it doesn't matter that I don't know how much I even spent last year...this year is going to be less!"
Good question Keith - does anyone have an idea when the federal government may start downsizing their employees? Otherwise, I might be safe in 2009....
rasbary
Like another poster, I left my job in August, and am still looking for the right position, changing fields entirely, which is not easy.
Do have some savings, and managed to pay off my car entirely, so things could be worse, but I am not going to spend a DIME more than I have to this year!!
I am fully boycotting this materialistic, horrible American concept of Christmas, in which people would literally trample others to death for a flat screen t.v.
DISGUSTING.
Lost job in July.
Some savings, but I am really and truly depressed and scared at this point.
Are you spending less this Christmas?
Probably less, my husband doesn't want anything.
I'll probably give silver eagles to the older nieces and nephews this year. How many will depend on 12/24 closing prices (ha ha).
I'd like to get something for grandmaPPK, too.
Wind Farmer said...
I'll probably give silver eagles to the older nieces and nephews this year. How many will depend on 12/24 closing prices (ha ha).
That is a great idea. You have a vendor or link?
I'm spending less because we're saving up for the arrival of our second child in February.
I will not lose my job. I'll be up for promotion in the spring.
But I am increasing my savings rate, because honestly, at this point, I have no idea what's going to happen. Whether my pay gets cut by 10% or the market drops to the point where I'm interested in getting back in (around 5,000), I want to have as much cash on hand as possible so I'm ready.
I would say there is a 30% chance I will lose my job next year.
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