How do you plan to survive the Recession?

Firstly: don't spend your money. Spend someone else's.

My parents were raised in the Depression, too. Every penny counted. A penny saved is a penny earned.

I never want to be like that.

I agree ..

..A penny saved and invested earns other peoples money..No point in only earning money on your own, may as well let the penny saved work for a living, too !!

froggy

1) *** Generate cash ***

A) Own a home with positive equity? Sell it, buy a smaller place for cash.

B) Rent? Move to a cheaper place or get a roommate.

C) Drop cable TV and Internet

D) Sell any cars/boats/etc. that have positive equity and replace them with cheaper ones until the total retail value of all of them is less than half your annual household income.

E) Stop eating/drinking at restaurants/bars/coffee shops and take your lunch to work.

F) Stop using plastic now.

G) Have a garage sale.

H) Get a part-time job.

I) Buy a copy of The Cheapskate Gazette and live by it.

*** OK, now you have some cash, right ? ***

I) Put aside 6 months of expenses

J) Pay off all plastic

*** Here we go ***

K) Open a Roth IRA...max it out in a BOND fund if God personally told you that stocks are going to crash and a depression will follow. If God has not personally (no intermediaries allowed) told you this, diversify your holdings.

L) If you still have money left over, learn all you can about real estate or some kind of collectible: art, cars, antiques, toys, etc. Invest according to what you learn. Collectibles are fun, and they can make money too.

Well, if it's been said once, it's been said a thousand times: get rid of your debt!

While it's been a long row to hoe, I've managed to get that way and God willing, stay that way. At my current monthly expenditures, I could live about 2 years without a job. Of course that doesn't include any major medical or other catastrophe.

Stock up on some food now, while it's still reasonable and rotate that stock with everyday use.

Don't go weird and get some kind of bunker mentality as that will probably only get you shot.

Learn to fix anything on your own if you don't have the aptitudes already. At the very least, buy the books that you can read with all the spare time you'll have if the job market goes completely south.

I don't know how far you want to take this, but stocking up on non perishable barter items never hurts.

Gain the mentality of "what would I do if I broke my leg and couldn't work or get out of the house for six months and nobody would provide for me".

Again, no point in getting weird about it, but really, what WOULD you do if you were house bound for any length of time?

Go to the local grocery stores and pick up every coin that teenagers like to flip from their hands onto the floor for a thrill. I once gathered 30 dollars worth of change in one week.

1 rent movies from local library 2 buy at thrift shops/yardsales/free recycling places 3 swap with neighbours/friends 4 save all seeds/plant own garden--save rainwater from downspout 5 borrow Ed Begly Jr and Bill Nye to build you a place that will help you save on expenses...

Thank you for sharing your thrifty ways with me, there was a miser in VT that made thier own underwear from newspapers and how they did that I don't think I wanna KNOW.

I'm somewhat housebound at the moment because I'm taking care of my fiance who came down with shingles a few days ago. There is a vaccine and trust me after seeing what shingles can do to a person , I highly recommend getting it as a way of saving money and saving yourself from a very bad experience. He is almost completely disabled by it. Nuff said.

In addition to matching coupons to the items on sale at the super market , I've made insulated shades for that drafty old farmhouse of my X's (nothing more sophisicated than a layer of plastic and quilt batting tacked between two layers of fabric which is rolled up with ties during the day) but the house was heated with wood and that made the house about 10 degrees warmer in the winter and ten degrees cooler in the summer. My idea of "cheap thrills" ? going to the library. We have a place called Recycled North here in Btown , they recycle everything from building supplies to fabric and arts & crafts stuff, books, furniture,kitchen gear, office gear and I've found alot of signed handmade ceramics, a few antiques and even sterling silver christmas ornaments .

Eating right is a good way to save money and my favorite salmon recipe is to coat the salmon in olive oil and then cover it with carribean jerk seasoning and broil/ bake . I have the instructions for making a solar oven and someday just for the hell of it I would like to try doing that.

I do alot of this stuff already but I'd like to keep hearing what people think in case there is something else I can do or in case I hit on something someone else can use. Thanks for all the input!

I have been broke since I lost my last professional job after heart surgery, and I've found out just how much I can do without.

I stopped buying magazines. I read them in the library--this has also simplified my housekeeping!

I'm eating better and cheaper by cooking for myself instead of prepared stuff or restaurant food. I'm diabetic, so smaller portions work fine. I freeze the rest.

I buy clothes at thrift/consignment shops.

Once gas hit $3/gallon, I avoid driving anywhere one day a week...I'm working up to two. I never do a single errand/trip/destination--I have to have multiple destinations to make it worthwhile to drive.

Dollar stores are great sources for cleaners, sponges and cleaning supplies.

I've started really looking at store brands vs name brands, especially for groceries and over-the-counter drugs. Sometimes the "store brand" is higher than the named brands.

Really reading labels--the active ingredient in Alleve is Ibruprophen, for example. I buy the store brand Ibuprophen in the same dosage as appears on the Alleve level. The difference is that the Alleve is more convenient--you take it every twelve hours instead of every four as needed for pain. I'm out of a job, so I can put up with that to save several dollars over Alleve.

Four out of five of the medications I take are available in generics. The difference between the expensive name brand featured in all those damned pharmaceutical commericails and the generic is usually more convenient dosing.

I still have Internet and the Y, but I've given up cable. My cell is on a family plan with a friend, and offers free long distance. I'm contemplating giving up the land line completely.

I have no credit cards.

And, finally, I follow the R.C. Womack economic theory: STAY OUT OF THE GODDAMED STORES! (Pardon the language--that's Daddy's direct quote for all my adult life. He's profane, but right.)