Living In America

[tilo1968]

How has recession and job losses affected you? Are you still working;have you been down-sized?

[psychocy]

We have had to move 1200 miles away, change our occupations, and begin living a more frugal lifestyle. Actually, now that we are poor, we are happier than we had money. We scrape by each month, but are experiencing an abundance of good luck and have learned to take pride in our thriftiness, finding bargains we never knew existed. My wife, dog, and I all prefer the situation we are in now, on less than halff the salary we used to make, but I realize for most people this has been devastating, and I know some of them myself. We try to help where we can, but I feel the economy is picking back up, and soon people will be better off than before. Just my two cents.

[strumcat]

My wife, dog, and I all prefer the situation we are in now

psychocy... that's because you can adapt and you know that not liking your situation is not going to make it disappear and get rosy again. You will be better off than you were before, because you have the right attitude. Thanks for taking your dog with you on your transition, I work at a shelter and you would be amazed at the number of animals we recover that are simply left at the premises when the owners move... Sad but true.

[lbeery]

My husband and I got so frustrated with jobs and the drive to them (we spent almost one person's take home on vehicle expenses and gas to get there plus a 70 minute drive each way on a good day) that we relocated to an area with a lower cost of living.....no jobs here though.  We are trying to get home businesses started but that is much harder than we thought it would be.  I feel much for those with children who have no alternative but to deny the kids things and struggle only to find that they cannot catch up or even get by.  I am doing without a land line phone because the taxes on the bill each month equaled or exceeded the cost of the service itself.  I just use a pay as you go cell phone now but is still about $20 a month and thanks to the nifty "digital tv" we are without that as well.  One day I suppose we will give in and get a sat hook up but that is expensive too.  It is much harder to be poor in america than it once was.....the world we live in demands some much expense just to get up in the morning....insurance, telephone, tv, gas and electric and water take a full time job.  Makes me wonder how my parents raised all us kids on one guy's salary. My sisters and I all say we didn't want for anything as kids but we all know mom wore holy underwear.  We just didn't know why.

[psychocy]

Thanks for taking your dog with you on your transition, I work at a shelter and you would be amazed at the number of animals we recover that are simply left at the premises when the owners move... Sad but true.

Thanks, strumcat. We can't imagine being away from our little buddy. My wife does some volunteer work at a humane society, and she sees all the poor dogs and cats that have been abandoned. We live in an apartment and can only have one dog, or we'd have already taken in two or three more. Dogs look up to us as their "parents" and "leaders", and abandoning your faithful pal is no way to lead or parent.

[deekeepinitreal2009]

i am not working at the moment and it is very hard to find a job these days

[dreamyxo]

I have a job but the future remains to be seen.  They are cutting flights and have been furloughing pilots left and right for the last couple of months. It's supposed to continue until the beginning of the year.  I'm just thankful to have a job now.  If in a couple of months I don't then I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  In the mean time I am trying to pay off my credit card debt and not spend money if I can. 

[mrisha]

Because the recession is affecting people and employers it is very hard to find a job.  I have been sending out resume's eveywhere and still nothing.  I don''t know if I am overqualified or underqualified for the jobs that I apply for in this industry.  I  have been looking for more than a year and still nothing.