i have posed a few times on ats but am on here all the time reading, my husband and i work in the trucking industry and our jobs both depend on our economy, its rough out there we do not own a credit card make decent money and have a teenager, we watch what we spend if we cant pay cash we dont get it plain and simple. i am not saying i dont want things but my needs come before my wants and many americans have that mixed up

OK, I said I would contribute, but it's a bit too personal for me - I lurve my anon status, so I'll be vague.

Myself and my partner both work in educational establishments of some sort. So, no real problem as far as lay-offs or anything. Cost of living is getting worse in the UK, but I don't drive and live a fairly simple life. I don't go for new shiny things that easily - I don't buy more stuff to weigh me down. My partner does drive and travels a bit for work, so that is restrictive, but we may move in the near future to reduce that issue.

After spending so long studying etc, I've never had a high maintenance lifestyle. My vices are smoking and an insatiable appetite for music and gigs, but I rarely drink - maybe a bottle of wine once a month. Have a son, so can be costy keeping him clothed and fed, but he earns his own money from doing stuff for neighbours, so he buys his own shinys.

TBH, I feel fine. However, my current position is only really contract-like work. So I don't have real solidity for the future. I could easily move into a more permanent position, but not doing what I want, where I want. So I feel comfortable enough to be less stable doing what I want to do. I'm not mortgaged etc (learned from previous experience), I don't have debts - a minor overdraft I use now and again. My partner has more stable employment, but more debt in the form of student loans.

But I know other family members who are in debt to their eyeballs, essentially bankrupt and slaves to their creditors, and others who spend like frickin crazy on the most useless items that sit gathering dust.

In comparison, I feel cool. No great personal worries on the financial/lifestyle side, and we could easily live on one wage. In fact, we have never been more comfortable cf. past, and I feel pretty lucky to be living the life I want to a degree at this point in time.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by melatonin]

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
Hi Mel,
That wasn't that vague!
May I ask where in the UK you live?
I can't imagine life without a car. Not because I use it that much, but it gives me the idea of freedom that I can at any time just bail for a few hours days and disconnect from the noise.

Heh, too personal. I'm just very secretive and I don't fancy being stalked by some internet freak - and there are many who scare me on this forum.

In a small city, north of London but south of scotland, heh. It's pretty cheap living cf. London and the south. I've never ever had the urge to drive. Did one lesson and really hated it - too stressful. I just use public transport if I need to. I like people watching, so public transport is cool, get the chance to meet all kinds of freaks and hoboes.

I live in a fairly quiet place in a more country-like area on the coast. So if I need to get away, I just go walkabout with some good music on my mp3 player (Bat for Lashes being a new fave) perhaps with the dog in tow. I've lived in surburban places most my life, so I luuuurve it like mad where I am.

However, I don't think I could ever live too far from the sea. It's a sort of base for me. To spend time watching the waves roll in etc.

I come from a very working class family, and was the only child in the family to do the university thing, so I've done pretty well for myself. I don't earn a great deal now (my brother who works for a car factory earns more) but have never been money-motivated, just want enough to be comfortable in my simple life pursuing what makes me feel I can make a difference. Indeed, I left a well paid job in industrial science (pharm R&D) to move into an academic pathway. So I have never been materialistic. Just always tried to do what makes me happy in life when I can.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by melatonin]

I lost my job as a graphic designer/editor/production artist at a local weekly newspaper (making $13 hr) when a corporation bought the paper and moved all content work out of state.

That was in Feb of 2006.

I used my 401K money (with early withdrawal penalties and all) to keep us eating and under a roof. When that ran out, I used a credit card. When that was cut off for non-payment... We sent our blessed Buddha, our daughter who was 4 1/2 to live with my sister 3000 miles away - I could not be sure I could feed her at all, let alone the organic, healthy food I want her to grow up on.

Since 2006, I have been applying for jobs at about 100-150 a week. There are no graphics jobs left in the area, and no one wants a secretary who has gray hair, it would seem. So most (though not by far all) of my applications have been online.

We (my partner and I) lived in the apartment we were in when I lost my job, and our landlord was very understanding. Until I lost the job, I had been paying rent 6 months in advance every six months. Then their partner in ownership moved to town and took over and evicted us this last February 29th.

We moved to Brooklyn to stay with friends there and I expected to find a job in no time. Again, applications galore and no job. We moved back to the boonies and stayed in a friend's cabin - no electricity, no running water inside (a pump about 30 yards outside was available. Friends helped, bring us occasional food and driving us weekly to the food pantry.

We put an ad on craigslist saying we would work for a place to live. A couple, who had need of someone to do yardwork and domestic, along with helping them get a handle on decades of hoarding, whose three children had moved out, offered us a place to stay in return for this work.

My partner (my daughter's father) is an inventor and hasn't the ability to deal with "McJobs." But he has been accepted for consideration for PBS's Everyday Edison show, Spencer Gifts has moved a proposal to the second tier of consideration, and a guy at Tesla Motors is interested in some of his work, so it looks like maybe there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel.

Still, I can't say anything will come of any of these things, and the couple we work for is struggling themselves. We still go to the food pantry, but at least we have a commode that flushes, a place to shower, and a stove to cook on. We are getting by.

[edit on 7/4/2008 by Amaterasu]

I work for Northwest Airlines. It's the third airline that i've worked for and so far it's still in business (Not like Independence air or Maxjet). I also live in West Virginia and DRIVE from WV to Dulles Virginia for work 4 days a week.

Gas prices?

Dont affect me. I bit my bottom lip and started carpooling with 4 other people. At most I drive once a week to work. Yes it sucks not being able to listen to my ipod really loudly or chain smoke, but it's 100% worth it. I already had a fuel efficient vehicle to begin with but the carpool is still a life saver. I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to save some cash and their sanity.

How do I deal with money issues?

Easy. I stay at home and enjoy the things I already have. Camping and hanging out with family friends. I find that a 20 case of bud and a quiet evening on the porch with my wife is just as much fun as.... well.. anything else. It's so easy to save money and still have fun. Investing in some home entertainment is also a good idea.


I try not to let it get to me. Granted our country is slightly "suicidal," at the moment. It's really easy to forget about all of this when you are having a good time and not getting caught up in the BS.

I know it's rare to have someone sound so positive, by if you take our current issues too seriously you'll never get out alive.

ATS makes excellent bathroom reading by the way.

Oh there is ZERO job security in the airline biz. Northwest is my third airline and hopefully it wont tank on me. I cant even begin to describe the rumors, the doubt, and the despair that Airline employees have. The fact that at any given point your job cant just disapear. Maxjet fired all of it's employees via EMAIL on XMAS #ING EVE! It can really get to you and make your job miserable. I got sick of being miserable about it and if # happens, # happens. There are other places to work. I do feel that the airline industry is going to get much worse than it is now. The oil prices are killer.

I have enjoyed this thread so I will contribute:

South East UK, 20k (pounds) (so 40k dollars) salary.

Own home, about 40% mortgage only so can hopefully manage a house crash.

I am lucky and i know and appreciate this. I am single and have no children, nor the desire to reproduce. A child would bankrupt me; as a marriage/child/divorce did my brother.

I have everything i need. I have the big TV, the games consoles and computers. I don't NEED to make any big purchases for years, nor do I want to. It is only in the last 2 years that I made that crucial mental disticntion between want and need.

My living expenses are low. I have downsized my mobile phone to pay as you go, have no satelite/cable, lowest internet suitable.

Even with this I can only manage to save 200 pounds a month max. Something always manages to crop up (vets bills etc, I have a cat). I have minimal savings and I have no debts. I think I could survive 3 months with no wage before I became desperate.

I dont drive so fuel is irrelevant to me, but food and utilites bills are hitting me hardest, but thankfully not as much as many. I am trying new recipies (and enjoying the process of cooking) to achieve cheap food. I my first fish pie yesterday; it was lovely and could feed six for about 5 pounds... I am freezing some.

I am thankful of my situation and I acknowledge I am lucky to work close to home, and can thrive without a car and children.

In the UK I think there is too much pandering to the unemployed and slackers. I mentioned previously that 3 months and I would be desperate... well, thats probably not the case as I would have most things paid for by the state. In my heart of hearts I do sometimes wonder "whats the point?" of working when you can get so much for free. This mentlity is something the younger generation has latched onto wholeheartedly. I really don't blame them, it's there on a plate.

I sound like an old codger, but I'm only 33



[edit on 6-7-2008 by randomdan]

This is one of the few posts I have read where no one is flaming anyone, very sad but an enjoyable discussion; so I guess I will share.

Luckily I have no children, so I only have to worry about myself and sometimes my mother.

Here in small town Tn. we really have no good jobs. Just service and labor. I personally have had bad luck at finding steady work since moving back in 02. Those were the days making great money doing illustration work, but this town is really stuck in the past.

I have to drive 200 miles one way to the V.A. for treatment but with the price of gas I can only afford to do that once a month now. Because of my medical problems I have to spend more time than I like at home, so pretty much every job I have had I was let go. It is understandable but I do get extremely discouraged alot.

I went into real estate awhile back so I could work flexible hours, but everyone knows about the market and I live in a military town and when they get deployed it hurts all business.

I havent quit yet and I guess thats the key. Also reading about other people here who are worse off than me and still trying is uplifting. Good luck to all.

My father is a businessman who makes an impressive six-figure income. I just graduated with a 4 year degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina.

I still live at home, since my new job is only 15 miles away. We live in the same neighborhood as all the doctors, lawyers, and even some NFL players. We get season tickets to see the South Carolina Gamecocks college football team.

We have intercoms in our home to talk with each other since it's so large. My mother and father have 4 vehicles, even though it's just us. I drive a Toytota 4Runner, but they also have a 2008 Land Cruiser, which sometimes gets as little as 12 mpg.

I pay no rent.
I have no car payment. (My 4Runner is an old '97)
Gas prices bother me (because I know I could be paying less), but they don't hurt me at all.

BUT...I STILL CARE about what's going on. Why? Because things are going to get much worse - and it will affect everyone.

I just imagine the intercom thing. It's hard to understand how big your house actually is.....

'Hi mom'
'Hi son;
'Do we have any milk in the refrigerator'
'I'm not sure, I will ask your sis'
'Hi daughter'
'Did you put any milk in the refrigerator'
'Yeah'
'Hi son, we have milk in the refrigerator'
'Ok let's everybody meet up at 700 hrs for breakfast'


[edit on 8-7-2008 by ManInAsia]

[edit on 8-7-2008 by ManInAsia]

My parents have one of those. They mainly use it when someone answers the phone and its for the other person as my dad is usually upstairs, and mom downstairs, so they do not have to walk up and down and get each other,lol

Ama