Thursday, April 3, 2008

Not Justa nother recession discussion!

I don't image know about you guys but I'm tired of all the negative talk in politics. I thought I would look at some things about recessions and how if you manage your finances you can actually get some pretty good deals. First of all. If you lose your job or get your legs cut out from under you like Magna did recently here in Syracuse, Ny. It's going to be tough no matter how frugal you are. A sudden job lose is a terrible thing. But from my perspective and Jackofall58's perspective getting your wages cut ain't no picnic either. I'll let Jackofall58 speak for his self.

I went from taking home $977.00 per week after taxes to taking home $400.00 per week on Workman's compensation. Anyway you cut it that's a lot of money.That's $577.00 per week or $30,004 per year. That my friends is a lot of moola! Do you realize what we could have done with that kind of money. That being said. I'm glad it happened. Sure I'll walk with a limp the rest of my life. So what,so did Festus in Gunsmoke. This has given me the opportunity to have countless hours with my wife. We truly are each others best friends. Sorry Shawn and Pat. My wife is my best friend. So see Shawn I have more than one friend.100_0484 The picture on the right here is Shawn (in the middle) and his wife (Pat) on the left. The Gentleman on Shawn's right is Momma's first husband Walt. Your not going to meet a nicer guy than Walt. We get along very well. I have know Shawn & Pat since way back in the Horse & Buggy days. Shawn & Pat are the ones I refer to as "The Mayor & his Wife" in earlier post.

How do you save money in Recessionary times? Well Cindy and I have done a few things.

  • We now buy all of our gas at Bj's at $3.21 a gal right now. this is abut $0.14 a gal below the average station in our area. Bj's is right in the area that we drive in during the week so it's not out of our way.

  • We do 99.9% of our grocery shopping at Save A Lot in Fulton, Ny. We've cut our grocery bill by at least 40%. Even with the rise in grocery prices the difference between shopping here or Wegman's is stark. Shopping at Bj's doesn't really work for us because we're only shopping for two.

  • We've cut way back on eating out. We don't deprive ourselves, we still go out to either breakfast on Saturday or a dinner or lunch during the week. It is either one or the other now. Where before it used to be both Breakfast and lunch and a dinner or two tossed in when ever we were to lazy or tired to go home and make it.

  • We could cut back our T.V. and Cable package. We consider these necessities. I'm sure other people don't but come on we have to have some vices. Neither Momma or I smoke or drink. I have been trying to talk Cindy in to dumping our Home phone service this would save us about $40.00 a month. It's not as if we don't already have phones. Our Verizon cell phone service is very good and cost us right around $100.00 for the month. (Getting Momma to carry the phone everywhere is like getting a Liberal letting us dig for gas in Alaska.) It ain't happening!

I'm sure others have ideas how to save let us know what you do to make or save money. Maybe it would be something we could all do. I'm justa saying!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wow...i'll tell you where my problem with recessionary time is...it is not accross the board...i am asked to take, and i'm not sure that it was asked....it was a take it or leave it choice..." do you want a 30% pay cut or be unemployed??? hmm...can i keep my chair??? no you can not keep your chair...wow i'll take the pay cut...thanks" now i ask you did the executives take a similar pay cut....i bust my butt every day...we would not be in this spot if not for greed and miss management at the top....so i ask you who deserves the pay cut???as has been pointed out...prices will not drop with my wage...so as you point we have to do more with at the bottom while the executive board gets a big bonus...wa wa wa thats my whine for teh day....now it's time to move forward...there is no redo in life...you just got to move...thanks for the vine