ARE " YOU " RECESSION-PROOF?
The heck with what the city's doing about the slowdown, a good friend asked what are some of the things we can do to make all of us recession-proof and please share them with us.
posted by terminator1 @ 3:24 PM
13 Comments
13 Comments:
Postponed buying a new car. Couple of reasons;
1. waiting to hear what congress is going to do.
2 waiting to see what Detroit is going to do.
3. just not wanting to spend any extra money if we don't need too. The phat-mobile has 180,000 miles but we keep the maintenance up and it makes our local mechanic happy.
4. We have stopped buying as much as possible from the big box stores. I like the guys at Mentor Lumber and the service is GREAT! I like Joughins and the service is GREAT! I like Grande Designs Floral and the service is GREAT! I like Painesville Elevetor and the service is GREAT! ..... catch the drift? also saves money on trips too far out of town.......
5. put in vegetable gardens and composted yard waste.
6 I have become the electric nazi ...... leave a room turn the lights out! The goes for the dog too!
7........ I clipped my first coupons....... ever.... and used them for stuff like soap and paper products.
8 cut way back on our gift giving and instead of buying more stuff we supported Heiffer this year.
9 Subscribed to the Plain Dealer weekly ...... this is gonna kill me but I am a believer in the newspaper business and don't want to see them go down.
10. Eating out less but when we do we try keep our money in town.
I took a part time job when we saw this coming a last year.
All in all I guess saving more, putting purchases off, going to Cinema 20 instead of Atlas, and stacking wood for the woodburner...... which is working overtime this year!
The last time the country went through something like this the government asked the citizens to do things to help the effort. The citizens responded and pitched in. We must feel like we can help. I think most would do their part and more. I have not heard the government ask us to do anything except open our wallets for more bailout money and this is starting to get a bit irritating. Not that saving tin foil is the answer but I wish they would start the campaign to buy bonds and get America moving.......
good luck to all this year......
MP
1. As everyone should have heard by now, DO NOT sell off your 401k stock because it is loosing money, your too late already, now is the time to either ride it out or increase your contributions if you can.
2. Don't charge, charge, charge. Pay off those huge credit card bills. The most vulnerable group for financial institutions to go after "legally" are the middle class fools who have $10,000 plus owed on credit cards and never read the fine print.
3. Walk somewhere, as a country we need to lower our reliance on oil, notice how we were holding our ground until oil dropped and it then took our whole economy with it.
4. Volunteer, help your neighbor in need, now is when we prove that we are indeed the most generous nation ever on this earth. How many of you truly understand that this country has survived and prospered well beyond many others because of this generous nature.
I would have to say Bravo MP. The things you are doing are right along the line of what I should be doing. I am an apartment dweller and for that some of my options are limited but, I have made changes. Reduce the thermostat and added blankets. I try not to be wasteful and I patronize all of the local shops to avoid the gas waste. Last year I turned in a Chevy Tahoe with a 5.9 l engine for a smaller one getting 33 mpg. Big savings there. I work OT when available and pinched more from the check into the savings for that unforeseen stuff. No credit card balances, pay with cash or check only, very liberating to be honest.
Does anyone have ideas for an apartment dweller with no real outside access like a patio, to get some fresh veggies? Now that farmers market is gone I feel lost. Harveys in Fairport is real nice but I like the other stuff that they always had at the market. JT
Do not sell off your 401K? Should I at least stop adding to it?
JT
I am very particular about the veggies I purchase now that the fresh local season is gone and my garden is empty. I do check out Harvey's Market but I have found that alot of the produce has sat too long and is now too soft to be enjoyable. I do not like the fact that many of their potatoes are green in color. Green potatoes are not healthy. No offense Harvey's. Giant Eagle's produce has also been way too soft and overpriced.
To be honest with you, I prefer Marc's produce during the off season. Stem tomatoes from Canada, good price, good flavor. Never ever put tomatoes in the frig as they will lose their flavor. Set them on a kitchen shelf/counter and let them ripen if they are hard. Yum. As all prices are up, I feel that Marc's prices and sales are great. Marc's has a good variety - check it out. Went to the new market in the shopping center where Malley's is; produce looked great but the prices were a tad bit high. Must remember that at this time of the year all is imported in.
Gas prices may be low at this time, but I consolidate all my trips together. No replacement of windows that leak, but are now sealed to save $$$. Heat is set at 68, but gets turned down when the sun is brightly shining. Can't use our three-sided fireplace as our wonderful (many years)fireplace vendor chopped off top of the chimney, no draft anymore. Fireplace has no glass, so we have boarded-up all sides. Wish we had your woodburner MP! We make sure that our propane tank for the gril is filled in case of a loss of power - good cooking source. Have a decent stock of sterno to also help with cooking.
Stock the pantry with many healthy forms of foods. Buy on sale meats that will provide at least 2 meals and lunchmeat or 3 full meals.Freeze all leftovers for future use. Keep the snowblower tanked with gas (and the gas can) full with fuel stabilizer in order to not have repair bills. Keep the vehicles filled with gasoline and washer fluid in order to prevent freeze-ups. Have all batteries available for our portable advisement radios. Wash bigger loads of clothes and dry them on a lower setting/which includes hanging them on a line inside. Lights-out in non used rooms has always been our way.
Rinsing dishes with cold water instead of hot water to clear off debris.
This may sound crazy: but, in regards to toilet habits - if it is just urine it can stay in the toilet longer with less flushes and save on the water/sewer bills. We have not gone out to eat in the last 1 1/2 year and when we may do this it is at a low price with attached coupons. We use as many coupons as we can find for food purchases and all of the other non-food necessary products.
Have had to put off any/all repairs/restoration to the house from the flood of 06 that dumped 3 feet of raw sewage in our home. Cost way too much and it will not go on any credit card - which now they are raising their rates on those that have a good rating/payment history so they can collect something to make-up for those that cannot pay.
We hope and pray that everyone is safe/sound/healthy. Potluck does not just mean a dinner meal, it means combining all resources for survival. Whatever you do, stay safe and smart. Do not ever use alternate means of heat/cooking inside that are not meant to be there.
Blessings to you and yours.
Thanks charterlady for the advice. I do shop at Marc's and have found much the same as you, minus the romaine lettuce that is. Always too old and bitter, don't know why? Store by Malley's? Is this the new organic store I have heard about? Did not know it was open, may have to check it out. Thanks again. JT
talked to Farmer Maggie today, she sells lettuce at our summer Farmers Market her in P'vlle. Most of the vendors that have produce this time of the year sell at Shaker Square. They moved indoors for the winter.
Rainbow Farms still has produce but they are out in Perry & selling at Shaker. Most of the apple places are shutting down after next week.
Also check with Madison Ave Greenhouse. Ed has organic produce during the winter but it is hit and miss. I would call before I ran over. Really good guy and runs a great place. My neighbor works there too.
The extension office (across from the county jail on rt 20 would have information on local growers too.
One of the agency's here in town did a survey this summer and found out they find the same farmers at market after market. Market were visited by locals 30% more this year than the year before. One of the reasons they are starting to monitor the growers in our area ........... in case there is problem with the food suppliers they want to know if our area could feed itself. The answer is a resounding, NO!
We have 10-12 farmers who consistently feed this area off of very small plots of ground.
Good Luck!
Golding's in Perry is still open and usually stays open until end of February, first of March.
They are truly the apple people for Lake County!!
Would love to hear from everyone, males and females, their recipes for any meal that will stretch the budget farther. Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and beyond.
This may sound silly: but, in order to keep going everyone needs sustenance that is equated to the prices that we must endure at this time.
Hey, maybe even the term will allow all of us to get together and produce a great recipe book. A book that will help everyone weather the storm. Do know that the Latino population knows how to do this very well as they do have large family populations and we see that they are not under-fed: congrats to them for always taking care of their own.
What do you think Term - decent idea or just boring??
I think a recipe book is a good idea, if people want that we can start an online blog. and everyone can post their recipe with ingredients and preparations. Good idea, let me know. Alot of good ideas here on how to weather the coming year. JT. comment on paying off credit card debt is something everyone should have done or started to do. Although I hope the coming year won't bring a depression that our parents and grandparents told us about, I think we are all going to learn the difference between "wants" and "needs" [do we really need those 400 channels Butch]. I have alot of faith in he American people making lemonaide out of lemons.
To the one person who asked about their 401K get in touch with the manager who is taking care of it they can steer you to a safe spot to invest your money [just don't think your going to get much investment interest on it.]
Cut down on all those fivolous lidagations, spending all your money on Lawyers, and lawsuits.
Mary Poppins
didyou wonder why the police dept. spent $300,000 on overtime? other towns tell at meetings what they do in detail, why not painesville city?ALL THE SALARYS come out of our GENERAL ACCOUNT. this may be the reason we cannot repair our streets! STOP THE REAL CROOKS----CITY HALL EMPLOYEE 11
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