Have you found yourself spending and shopping less since the credit crunch, housing crash and great inflation hit?
If so, what are you cutting back on the most?
June 06, 2008
HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
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73 comments:
No, I am NOT spending less. In fact, when the new 80 GB PS3 comes out on the 12th, I am buying it! I have GTA IV (which, btw, is the #1 best selling video game of all times despite the alleged recession we are in), but no PS3 to play it on.
If HPers want to reduce their spending, I highly recommend that the first tthing they cut out is their internet connection. In fact, I recommend the same thing for all of the bubble bloggers out there.
I'm not really cutting back my spending. I've always been pretty thrifty, so there's not much for me to cut.
Also, my spending is fueled by my income and savings, so I have not been forced to cut back by the lack of access to cheap credit.
That said, I am driving a bit slower these days to save on gas.
NO. . .why? Because I rent!. . .my rent hasn't gone up, and there are so many condos for rent in downtown SD, that I could move tomorrow, get a free months rent, and lower my rent by $200 a month (which I may do). . .I just returned from Alaska, and booked my Zurich flights for September and December (must ski you know). . .my oil stocks are "going through the roof" today (especially Canadian and foreign energy stocks). . .BUT - went out to eat last night, restaurant nearly empty, and waitress said that business was WAY off, and staff is being cut - ditto in Alaska. . .tourist business way off and energy prices higher. . .
And YES, I do like to gloat a bit. . .why? because we here on HP knew this was coming two years ago and prepared. . .wheat/corn futures anyone???
Most certainly. Cutting back on dining out mostly. Never was a big shopper.
Buying gold and silver like a madman.
That picture looks like it is from downtown Denver, CO along the 16th Street Mall.
Anyway, I'm not spending less so much as I am preparing to spend less in the future. The car is a good example. I was thinking of replacing it this year and now I might wait for another couple of years. It isn't a case of not having the money. It is a case of the future looking very uncertain. Or, to put it another way, a high level of volatility in the near future looks to be certain.
No. I'm debt free, so the credit crunch is not crushing me. Also, I got out of the spendthrift habit on most things many years ago, and have lived below my means, saving for a rainy day.
And, I sold my house in 2007 and have that money (prior savings for down payment, plus savings set aside for future renovation, plus money I put in to pay down the loans, plus profit on house price increases) in my accounts, working for me, earning interest and gains, and ready to use if I need something unexpected.
I'm thinking about getting a new top of the line computer (current one 8 years old), prepared to buy a recession-bargain auto if I find I need one (hopefully won't), just bought a nice new cell phone, going on a pricey vacation tour in the fall.
And during this recession cycle my job looks pretty secure this time, but if not, I'll be fine, because I spent the GOOD TIMES preparing for the BAD TIMES.
I'm sorry so many people didn't know enough to do that, but they'll just have to suck it up.
Some of those arrogant hugeass SUVs are big enough to live in anyway, so I'm not going to lose much sleep over those folks...
i ahte to admit it, but in some cases I'm buying more things that I think will hold value better. I've cut back on my 401K and I've slowed down how mcuh I'm putting into savings. I'm thinking that inflation is going to roar to life pretty soon and there are some things that are better to get now rather than wait until they cost 3-4 times as much.
Sad thing is that my wife thinks that I'm being uber-generous as of late. How else could she explain all the gold and silver jewlery I'm picking up for her?
(Note: I'm getting them from going out of business sales for 80% off).
soda
Yes, I have cut back.
No more Hookers
No more Hummers
No more Houses
No more "How do you do?"
>> I have GTA IV (which, btw, is the #1 best selling video game of all times despite the alleged recession we are in), but no PS3 to play it on.
America is burning to the ground, and you're playing games, you stupid asswipe.
As you might have been able to tell, I am a contrarian. During the GOP's 'debt' based economy, I saved, invested. Heavily. Didn't really spend. Now I'm picking up on spending. Getting the best deals on everything now. Next year I think I'll pull the trigger on a house. Real estate should be a total disaster by then.
Cutting back - yep
We are hardly eating out.
There will be riots in USA like in India today. Truckers will not be able to to truck our groceries which will be shortages and higher prices.
We are getting a 3 month supply of food at our house to sit and wait.
My husband went to fill up our cars and there was a line.
The beginning of the end?
Beignet
That's what I call a "bull market":
DOW = -400 points
NAS = -3%
S&P = -3.09%
DOPES!
2 years of Democratic majority in Congress:
* Oil = $140 and the sky is the limit.
* Unemployment = 5.5% (wink wink because the real number is much more than that)
* Priority from Democrats: bailout to housing fraudsters and amnesty to millions of illegals who are unemployed and will be sucking welfare as soon as that greencard arrives.
That's what I call "change".
DOLTS!
I sure am glad they blocked oil drilling in Alaska 10 years ago. Now we can pay the Arabs $140/brl for their oil instead of getting our own.
The wife and I sold out in Orange County before the bust, so we are sitting pretty nice with no debt. We just spent a year's sabbatical in Europe and are now back stateside. Just got a new job, but we are definitely being more frugal. We don't go out to eat much, we buy only what we need. But looking the way things are I am thinking of stocking up on food and other cheap necessities that we will need over the next year. I keep telling the wife that we are one of the lucky ones, she is slowly realizing this.
This one is for Andrew Hac - true story.
This happened today driving down a 2-lane highway here in Kentucky. Saw an animal crossing the road very slowly. It was a big ole snapping turtle. No one was behind me, I stopped the car, put on the emergency blinkers, got out and picked the snapping turtle up and safely got him to the other side of the road. It was hilarious. It was hissing and snapping at me. My kid loved watching his daddy handle this dinner plate sized turtle. Can't wait for the next one.
And Andrew, I don't eat snapping turtles.
Hey anonymous cowardly dolts, did you ever find out who your fathers were?
Maybe then you can come to your senses, stop posting idiotic absurdities and use an actual name instead of drifting in life as half-breed white trash illegitimate bastards.
"I'm thinking about getting a new top of the line computer (current one 8 years old),"
Save your money and don't do it, as computers become obsolete nearly every 6 months. Buy a mid-level computer every 4 years rather than a top of the line one every 8 years.
"America is burning to the ground, and you're playing games, you stupid asswipe."
Thank you for the complimnet. Just curious, as America burns to the ground, what do you think you are accomplishing by posting on HP? I am making just as much as a difference stealing cars in GTA as you are posting on HP.
Unknown to you Hpers, but $5 a gallon gas will result in Housing Bubble 2.0 as houses near urban centers and mass transportation will see their property values increase, while houses in the middle of nowhere will become almost worthless.
Sure. Lost my most of my 1099 work this month, which translated to a 25% salary cut. Sold the fancy sports car, paid off the wife's car. Now I'm debt free, but I'm cutting our spending by about a third because I expect at least one of our W2 jobs will disappear. Just being prudent.
"Unknown to you Hpers, but $5 a gallon gas will result in Housing Bubble 2.0 as houses near urban centers and mass transportation will see their property values increase, while houses in the middle of nowhere will become almost worthless."
How will people buy them? Banks won't lend unless they can prove they have a down payment and the income to support the mortgage.
Nope, I'm the same Smug Bastard I've always been but I do notice a lot of other people beginning to watch their P's and Q's when it comes to spending. I wrote someone a while back to say the in the old days, when your neighbor lost his job, that was a recession and when you lost your job, that was a depression. To update that old phrase, when your neighbor loses his house, that is a recession and when you lose your house, that is a depression.
"If HPers want to reduce their spending, I highly recommend that the first tthing they cut out is their internet connection. In fact, I recommend the same thing for all of the bubble bloggers out there."
Silly Donald. Hard core HPers know that the way to go for internet service is to use a connection that is free....hahahaha!
Wow donald. If your logic is representative of the average American, we are mostly truly screwed.
Unbelievable. This dolt brings up the number of sales of GTA IV as a frame of reference to the health of the economy.
And no dipshit, the high gas costs will NOT create housing bubble 2.0.
The housing bubble was created by speculation, easy credit and a moronic CDO system. All are now in the shitter. Along with your brain.
And what kind of doorknob buys a copy of a video game BEFORE he has the friggen game system to play it on?? If that isn't Bush "No Exit Strategy" logic, I don't know what is.
donald
You dont know anything about this market if you believe what you are saying. This is a whole different animal. Unless wages have a monstrous hike, this market will be a historic crash across the nation. Sure there will be a few areas which are spared but the national median price is about to start bleeding.
DON'T LISTEN TO ME, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH ON HISTORICAL REAL ESTATE FIGURES!!!
It took 6 years to lose 20% in the 1990's and currently it has taken just over six months out here in cali.
ICEMAN
I'm 39 and just discovered I fit into size 16 at Gap Kids. Do you realize how much nicer and cheaper casual clothes are for that age group!
My personal purchases of "stuff" are way down, but mostly because I'm saying No to China -- it is really hard to find certain types of goods not made there.
But other purchases are picking up -- leisure travel, gold, guns, and ammo top the list (in that order by amount invested). Nonperishable food may be next on the list. It is almost unbelievable how rapidly things are falling apart -- if the truckers strike or just quit taking a loss on every trip, we will really be in the soup (or without soup as the case may be).
Not shopping less, but only purchasing on the internet and never paying retail or shipping. The exception, of course, is groceries.
we just moved to a new place. renting, of course. and didn't renew the cable or satellite. We have so many movies on disk the kids haven't noticed.
"No more Hookers
No more Hummers"
Aren't Hookers and Hummers in the same category?
I'm not spending any less. I've always been a cheap ass tightwad. Ask my wife.
"I'm thinking about getting a new top of the line computer (current one 8 years old),"
I got a used Pentium III from my kids school for 25 bucks. Came with speakers and monitor. Added a little memory and it's screaming as fast as my newer computers.
If you video edit or are a hard core gamer, you need more. Internet? I'm using the $25 buck computer right now.
That last comment was pretty ignorant, Donald. Jobs moved into the suburbs in the 80s and 90s. Crime will rise because of the shitty economy, and another "white flight" (middle class families) into the exurbs will occur. People will simply drive more fuel efficient cars and telecommute.
No way do they want to be packed in like sardines with the rest of the scumbags in America, and especially no way are they going to pay twice as much for the privilege when the jobs aren't there.
Hey I rebt & am debt free- and i want a cheap vaca now, since no one can afford to go
keep hearing that Vegas is dead - where are the cheap cruises & resort deals???
Airline prices must be killing them too
I have cut back - I don't feel like I have less money or feel particularly concerned about my job - just swimming in the mainstream I guess. Even though I can well afford it, psychologically it pinches to spend $60 on a tank of gas when it so recently used to cost $40 - but I only have a 3 mile commute so a tank lasts weeks.
no, i am not spending less as I have never been one to over-spend. I am still using the same dvd play I bought 7 years ago. just bought a 1 year old minivan (from an FB that couldn't afford it in the first place and said they needed to cut back to make their mortgage) to replace my 12 year old car. my other car is 16 years old and i will drive that one till it stops working or else I find a sweet BMW from a REALTOR who can't afford it.
No more Hookers
No more Hummers
------------------------------
but you repeated yourself.
I sure am glad they blocked oil drilling in Alaska 10 years ago. Now we can pay the Arabs $140/brl for their oil instead of getting our own.
-----------------------------
yea but we will still have that when oil is $300
My husband went to fill up our cars and there was a line.
-------------------------------
weird, but there was a serious line at my usual gas station last week. Plenty of gas.
oh, you know, it was end of the month, perhaps welfare checks, etc came in.
I have stopped going out to dinner as much so far . I'm trying to conserve on utility costs and water.
I bought some good clothes on sales about 3 months ago .Bought a 37' flat screen TV so far this year on sale .
I have stocked up a little on food. At this point I really don't need to much more .
You mean ... "increase on paper".
The price of most houses across the country still far outpaces most people's salaries, and it's the majority of wage earners who will ultimately influence housing prices.
Donald said...
Unknown to you Hpers, but $5 a gallon gas will result in Housing Bubble 2.0 as houses near urban centers and mass transportation will see their property values increase, while houses in the middle of nowhere will become almost worthless.
I'm thinking of getting a lot of work done on my house. I am a big saver and I haven't done a thing to my Chandler, AZ house since I moved in seven years ago. I just don't have the time or skills to do the work and I figure a lot of those guys are desperate for the work.
On the saving side, I'm flying a little bit less and riding my bike a little bit more. I just want to do my part to keep the demand side of the oil down. (Although, I am heavily invested in USO, the oil futures ETF, which is working out nicely.) On my trip to Cleveland, I chose to use public transit instead of renting a car.
I've cut down on cocaine use and substitute with crack.
-Jeb Bush
I've always been pretty thrifty.
however, because of Schiff, I'm stocking up on cereal and canned diced tomatoes, pasta, etc... which were on sale.
I also have a goal of eatting home more often to save money and cut down on salt and fat.
things are going to get uglier for sure as the economy shifts.
"Yes, I have cut back.
No more Hookers"
thanks for cutting back on the hookers! I was lucky to get two for the price of one since, apparently, their business has been bad and they wanted to thank me for my loyalty and encourage it tooo.
"Save your money and don't do it, as computers become obsolete nearly every 6 months."
Isn't Moores Law about to break? Eventually you do reach a quantum limit...
Hey Gen Yner, you never experienced first hand a market crash, huh? You will love it. You never experienced the crazy 70's, Carter, oil crisis, disco, hippies, hyperinflation, etc. Neither the 80's, New Wave, Punk, Goth, Regan, crash of 87, or watched the Pink Floyd concert at the Berlin Wall, etc. But you think you know all, huh? Ha! I have to laugh with these little Obama cultists who think they're hot shit because they grew up with an Internet and a Wii. Let's see how you manage a real crisis. Good luck, little Gen Y $hits. Damn, your generation stinks.
Today I just bought a new Plasma 50" HDTV (Full 1920x1080). One of my "old" HDTVs broke and I'm replacing it.
Recently, I booked a vacation for July.
I bought a bunch of stuff for my girlfriend. I've purchased so many video games that I'd have to quit work for over a year to play them all.
Shorting XHB, CFC and LEH have paid for it all.
I am somewhat smart about how I did spend money. For items over $20, I rarely pay retail. I'll bargain hunt even if it means months of not having it. (My HDTV was broken for four months, but don't worry, I had a spare.)
The smart thing to do is to keep saving, but since I have more than enough money to buy my next house with cash, I'm trying to enjoy life now in case America does get as bad as my nightmares.
I see a lot of other people in my area still living for today. Even though house prices have fallen 30% here and unleaded gas is $4.51 a gallon, the traffic was heavy and all shopping areas packed. One negative is there is more frequent bum soliciting in the parking lots. So part of the bottom is starting to fall out, but many people here just don't know it yet.
Nope, always spend within my means. Buy the stuff I want and enjoy.
Nice ass on that chick by the way.
No.....I too am a renter. No cut backs here. Quite the opposite in fact.....we're gonna spend a bit of the $260K we have saved up.
Wifey and I just signed a 2 year lease on a high rise luxury rental for $1,650 a month ($525 more rent than we pay now)....this place would cost $4,500 a month to buy.....so why not !!! GAWD....I feel like George Jefferson. "Movin on up...."
Paying cash for new leather furniture, a 50" LCD TV for the wall.....etc....etc.....and maybe even a new car.....cash.....so I can drive by the 25 +/- for sale signs that I see every day when I go to work.
I'm so bitter.....being a renter and all that......
@Scott, 8:49pm.
For a laptop I highly recommend getting a Dell Vostro series. There are promotions going on all the time, just picked one up for my wife and I for about $550 each, we customized it the way we wanted. Great battery life and overall a nice, inexpensive purchase.
-BC
I lost my job so I've been watching my expenses. Not changing too much as I've not been a big spender even when the times are good. I am trying to eat less and the bonus is I've lost 5 lbs... 6'2 and 190 lbs so if I can get back down to 175 I'll be loving life.
I'm looking for another job but take comfort that I've got about 500 - 1000 months of living expenses tucked away in easy to liquidate investments.
Now it's just a matter of fighting boredom.
-BC
I got a used Pentium III from my kids school for 25 bucks. Came with speakers and monitor. Added a little memory and it's screaming as fast as my newer computers.
============================
Back in 06, one of the guy's at work was reading an Internet article that stated that Americans throw away 1 million computers every eight days.
Since it was trash day, we took my PU down main street on our lunch hour.
We picked up 10 computers, and enough components to make up six complete systems. In most cases the box that the "brand new" computer came in was sitting out at the curb with it.
The highest we found was a pIII running at 900mhz, most were pII's, one old 486, one Mac, one celeron (ranges: 66-500mhz)
Properly configured, these all worked fine, they just couldn't play the latest games. I tried to give some away to the neighbors, for their kids, and almost got laughed at (buy the kids, not their parents!)
Nice to know our whole computer industry depends on the public's ability to play the latest game offering.
Still using my original 400mhz celeron, gets on the internet just fine,thank you.
"2 years of Democratic majority in Congress:
* Oil = $140 and the sky is the limit."
ummm, they failed to impeach bush and bring the troops home. the WallStreet Journal rightly noted that the troop builup would strangle the bugdet because of veteran benefits, etc...
I adjusted my spending in the energy and food long ago. My heating bill in the middle of the winter never goes about about 125 dollars because I invested in a heating system from Norway. As to food, I feed a family of 4 and keep the monthly bill somewhere between 100 dollars and 200 dollars. Impossible? Not if you know where to look.
For example, lets say you want a famous brand of sausage that costs $4.29 for a pound size in a typical food store. The same can be found in a discount place for .99 cents!
"Jobs moved into the suburbs in the 80s and 90s. Crime will rise because of the shitty economy, and another "white flight" (middle class families) into the exurbs will occur. People will simply drive more fuel efficient cars and telecommute."
I live in northern New Jersey, and when Goldman sachs built a new building in Jersey City, many of the veteran traders refused to move into the building and leave Manhattan. As a result, a considerable portion of the high rise now sits empty.
"we just moved to a new place. renting, of course. and didn't renew the cable or satellite. We have so many movies on disk the kids haven't noticed."
That sucks. I don't know where I would be without cable news. And I love watching the basic channels in HD on cable... I've been watching Olbermann since the first episode in 2003.
Tampa, FL - I went to get gas the other morning (25 mpg in city Toyota), and the pump cut off after dispensing $50 worth. The display flashed "Gas Limit Reached".
I'm not cutting back because I've always spend within my means. I've never paid interest in my life. Ever.
Umm...I'm storing a lot of rice :)
Ummm, hell yeah, I am cutting back!!
Took 15K out of the bank to pay off the lease on my car...YAY...finally owe the damn thing free and clear...
and have been saving every dollar other than that. Its going to get UGLY people...better get lean!!
Not increasing spending but not cutting either. This "recession" is not affecting my family at all simply because we saw it coming and prepared. No debt (including no mortgage) and I pay cash for everything. Yeah, gas prices suck but without the debt, I still add to our savings every month after all expenses. We're in an "all cash" position and poised to buy some investment property cheap (1-3 years when this thing bottoms). When that happens, we'll pay all cash so credit market will not matter to us. Now if Bernanke would just crank interest rates up where they should be ...
Nope I'm a renter cleaning up on the sales.
America is burning to the ground, and you're playing games, you stupid asswipe.
America is burning to the ground, and you're trolling the internet, you stupid asswipe.
Unknown to you Hpers, but $5 a gallon gas will result in Housing Bubble 2.0 as houses near urban centers and mass transportation will see their property values increase, while houses in the middle of nowhere will become almost worthless.
Donald,
That wouldn't be a bubble, as the property would become more valuable for tangible reasons. I don't think you're really going to see much in the way of nominal price increases, however. People can't pay more if they don't earn more. The only thing which could start the housing bubble back up would be the government forcing the GSEs to make new loans in the ridiculously bad category. People can't do those prices without heavy leverage.
Inner city homes are not going to go up because it now costs you $200more a month to drive to work from your suburb.
Stupidist thing I have ever heard.
i stopped all leisure driving at 1.57 a gallon....about 3 tankfulls a month................. have not been laid in years..................
I needed a new baseball cap. Got one at neighborhood yard sale for 25 cents. Then I got a brand new swag one for free. Prices for things vary a lot.
Donald said...
"I'm thinking about getting a new top of the line computer (current one 8 years old),"
Save your money and don't do it, as computers become obsolete nearly every 6 months. Buy a mid-level computer every 4 years rather than a top of the line one every 8 years.
June 06, 2008 10:34 PM
Plus ALL new IBM clones come with MS Vista. Vista sucks. It's buggy and super slow.
GTC
I fill up once a month since I use transit.
Trolley pass is $90.
17 gallon fill-up is $68
Where I do fill the pinch is at the grocery store. My girlfriend was making a salad for dinner guests and wanted me to pick up 3 pounds of tomatoes. $9!!
Some older guy behind me (probably in his early 60s) looked at the monitor, and my lone bag of 8 vine tomatoes and shook his head in disgust.
I said
'Look on the bright side, the government says that inflation is at 2-3%.'
For the record--
I already have a Pentium III, and I've SERIOUSLY outgrown it. It's almost unusable. Even my girlfriend is begging me to get another computer, and she has a semi-old laptop and only uses my machine occasionally.
I'm not really into picking up used equipment, seems like too many risks, given MTBF/age issues, possible abuse, possible goofy configuration issues, etc. And, since I am NOT willing to switch computers frequently, and keep the machine MUCH longer than other people do, then I can justify starting new, and close to the front (maybe not AT the front) of the leading edge of technology.
I'm getting a new computer so I can put a database server on it with multiple filegroups (drive partitions), and multiple virtual-PC server operating systems. For this, I feel I want dual or quad core.
NO, I'm not putting Vista on it. XP Professional for everyday use, and possibly Server 2003 on some virtuals.
Yes, I'm looking at Dell Vostro (desktop tower, not laptop.) Dell has been my brand of choice for a while now.
I'll be using this for software engineering and server architecture study/certification/experimentation.
Might host a professional services website on it too. And putting comments on blogs of course :)
Lastly, I'm tired of not having USB ports in the front, and not having dual monitor or widescreen (will probably get a 24" or 30", or two 22").
Somehow I don't think I'll be fully satisfied if I only spend $25! (Although I don't want to pay what Dell is quoting me right now, so I'm looking for coupon deals.)
Well, I have no debt including mortgage debt, but I have put significant amounts of money into upgrading my home - whole house fan, solar attic vents, reflective insulation on attic rafters, reflective film on windows, and pellet fireplace insert. I have also increased my charities, and have a years worth of food storage. On the other hand, I am driving a LOT less, and am planning shorter more frequent vacations to closer places. My job has a good likelihood of surviving this year; beyond this year who knows?
Have cut back on Hookers, Blow, Eating out, (ooooh, that sounded nasty), and Tanning Salons...
Gotta put those 2 dozen grandchildren through college!!
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