Do You Have Any Emergency Plans If The Recession Gets Too Bad?

[Dayton3]

I've considered my options in case the recession gets really bad in my state and schools cut back on the numbers of teachers and coaches they hire.

Option #1

I already have my CDL. All it would take would be another written test and a drivers test to be certified as a over the road truck driver. Trucking companies seem to always need those.

Option #2

The military. Though I never figured to join since I have a wife and child I don't want to leave. The age limit has been raised, I'm in reasonably good physical shape with no significant medical problems currently.

Though if the recession gets really bad, hundreds of thousands of younger fitter people will be volunteering so that might not be an option.

Option #3

Move into the house my Dad left to me. Raise cattle and a garden. Keep expenses down. Work as a bus driver and substitute school teacher at nearby schools when possible.

Those are my three emergency plans.

 

[SeerSGB]

On option #1 - A lot of trucking companies are laying off. And most want Hazmat and experience. And drivers aren't making what they used to make, the trucking industry's in a bad slump right now and the ones that aren't closing are cutting miles and pay. The company my father drive's for just cut pay for all drivers by 10%, suspended 401k contributions, and is looking to cut insurance benefits back-- and it's one of the largest freight company's in America.

 

[Hugo Rune]

More and more people are attempting to apply for my job at the moment because of its security (and pension/benefits). Sadly, however, they stopped openly recruiting about 6 months ago.

(Currently) Apart from dismissal from the service for poor performance or breach of codes of conduct it's almost impossible for me to lose my job until I retire.

The only emergency plan I have is "More overtime" if my rent/bills etc continue to increase. And crime, sadly, isn't going away so I can happily (for me, and unfortunately for the victims) I can put away at least 12-15 hours a week if I'm so inclined (or the job requires it).

I'm desperately lucky, but I changed jobs just at the right time before the economic downturn.


Hugo - Loathed by many... and yet envied by an ever increasing number of his friends

 

[Gertch]

1) Impeachment.

2) I grew up with my dad's stories of trying to survive in WWII Germany. As long as we're not digging out the small reject potatoes from a farmer's garden or subsisting on rabbit brains I think we'll survive okay.

 

[Lindley]

If things really turned around and losing my job became a possibility, I suppose it would be time to start looking at PhD programs. I knew I'd need to take time off work if I ever decided to do that anyway.....

 

[Amaris]

I have a crowbar.


J.

 

[sidious618]

I shall eat my neighbors.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Start a new life... under the sea.

[Oh, that's your excuse for everything! We're NOT going under the sea. - someone]

 

[SeerSGB]

Call up the in-laws, crash on Canadian couch for a few months.

I have a crowbar.

Why does that sound like the beginning of a porno? Something you want to share with the rest of the class, J?

 

[Amaris]

Call up the in-laws, crash on Canadian couch for a few months.

I have a crowbar.

Why does that sound like the beginning of a porno? Something you want to share with the rest of the class, J?

Yes. <zip>
Yes I do.

I shall eat my neighbors.

I can jimmy you some wine.


J.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Well, I believe things will get worse before they get better. Companies are still laying off people. And the ones who aren't laying off are in hiring freezes. And the ones who aren't in hiring freezes are in wage freezes, despite the fact that prices are still going up.

The mortgage industry is in a shambles and I believe even more people will lose their homes in the next 9 months or so. This will pull down the banking industry, the real estate markets, and probably the construction industry still more. And thus, the entire economy.

Even now it is REALLY difficult to sell a home. And when I talk to recruiters, they say the job market is practically dead. No one is hiring.

So I'm taking steps, even now.

I have basically cut all non-essential spending. No new DVDs, CDs, books, meals out, evenings out, excessive driving around, or expensive cuts of meat. I pay attention to prices - ALL prices. Which I never used to do because I didn't have to. And with the money saved, I'm putting several hundred dollars a month into readily available savings and paying off what little consumer debt I have. I've been buying & building a small stock of household items like dish & laundry soap, toiletries, cleaning supplies etc on sale over the past couple of months so that if I lose my job, I won't have to worry about anything but my mortgage, utilities, and food. And I have made a list of immediate actions to take - a plan, if you will, in case I lose my job: get rid of my yard care service, cut back on the number of satty boxes in my home, shut off various rooms in my house to cut utilities, etc. I've updated my resume already so that it is current and ready to go should I need it.

Additionally, I've been really making an effort to learn how to bake and cook things from scratch. Processed/microwavable food is not all that good for you anyway...and maybe if I baked my own bread, for example, and cooked more, it would not only be better tasting but cheaper and better for me as well. I've even considered growing a vegetable garden this summer - I used to have one every year and loved it, but then got 'too busy' once I was making enough money to have a yard guy and stuff like that. Might start that up again this year - the fresh air and exercise would do me good, and cheap veggies that have not been sprayed with chemicals would be nice too.

Finally, I've been trying to think up a few ways I could make money if I lost my job. The obvious comes to mind - trying to get a few bookkeeping and tax clients to run out of my home seems an obvious choice. But I'm trying to be more creative than that - think up something that is not accounting-related.

I don't believe we are in a recession anymore. I believe it's teetering on a depression. And the better you position yourself to ride out a storm, the better off you'll be. I know a few people (including a couple of family members) who are even now losing their jobs, homes, & declaring bankruptcy, etc. Frankly, it's scaring the crap out of me. Which might be a good thing.

 

[SeerSGB]

I'm expecting the recently reformed bankruptcy laws (in the US) to revert and it'll be easier for people to file bankruptcy Ch. 7 again. As it is, a lot of people are just going to say "fuck it" to unsecured debt and let the companies bitch and whine.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I'm expecting the recently reformed bankruptcy laws (in the US) to revert and it'll be easier for people to file bankruptcy Ch. 7 again. As it is, a lot of people are just going to say "fuck it" to unsecured debt and let the companies bitch and whine.

Yep. I know a family that is doing exactly that - even with their secured debt. One of the spouses lost their job about 18 months ago and hasn't been able to find another one in their field. He has resorted to rather menial labor to put food on the table for the kids...but they are losing their house. And they feel like there is no point in even trying - they are 'upside down' in the house anyway and so there is not even any point in trying to sell it. They got rid of their credit cards months ago and don't even care about the fact that they likely will never be able to get any again because now their credit is so bad.

It's pretty grim.

But at this point, there is no way out for them except bankruptcy.

Oddly, I was talking to the wife the other day, and she is amazingly positive. She says it will be a new start. And she looks forward to scaling down to a much smaller house (rented, of course) and starting again, without those huge mortgage payments and massive monthly utilities hanging over their heads.

The glamour of living in a massive house in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood, she discovered, is not worth the stress and worry of these massive house-related bills - huge mortgage, utilities, upkeep, etc. And now she cannot WAIT to move out of this massive house which was once her dream.

 

[SeerSGB]

Me and my wife filed Ch. 7 back in '03-- before the reform-- cause we got suck with a lot of medical debt. Since them we've worked hard to get our credit-scores up in order to eventually buy a house. And I'm not ashamed to admit we're treading water right now on credit-card debt (not behind, but not as ahead as we should be) due to the fact that she's had hours cut back at work and us having to live on the cards for a bit.

We discussed it, and if she gets out of work and neither or both us can't get enough money in to keep up with it, fuck it we'll let it go to collections let the phone ring and push comes to shove we'll borrow the money from family and file Ch. 7 again.

 

[Michael Chris]

No emergency plans, but I do have several career plans currently open to me. It will all settle in the next few years, and if my chosen path fails I will try to move fields. I recognize the difficulty in this. Listed by order of preference:

1. Public Service Law
1. Pastor
3. Corporate Law
4. Business Management
5. Missions Overseas
6. Whatever work I can get

 

[An Officer]

We're going to raise chickens and rabbits, along with a vegetable garden.

I've lived on very little in the past... I'm not unfamiliar with the situation, and am not as frightened as those who have never experienced it. However, it's not pleasant to contemplate at all.

 

[backstept]

I'm going to build a forge and make swords to arm the soldiers to fight the undead banker hordes

 

[Amaris]

I'm going to build a forge and make swords to arm the soldiers to fight the undead banker hordes

I can jimmy you an anvil.


J.

 

[Dream]

I just need my shotgun and canned food.

 

[Lookingglassman]

1. As long as my VA disability check keeps coming in I am pretty good.

2. I would apply for Social security disability if I lost my job. The govt screwed me over with all those "experimental vaccines that are not FDA approved so we have to have you sign a waiver that you will not sue the US govt if something goes wrong" shots we were forced to take in Desert Storm and then they further screwed me over by giving me steroid shots that ended up killing my hips which I had to get replaced so I figure they can pay me for it all.

3. If all else fails, I'll live on the street and be homeless.