(no subject)

[davywavy]

Well, the media is full of the collapsing currency and general economic woes, but for most people I talk to life just seems to go on as ever.

So - question for today. How are you being affected by the credit crunch? Are you making personal economies? And those of you in private industry, what are you seeing of the downturn?

Comments

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

I haven't noticed it personally, but I know quite a few people who don't have jobs any more! :(

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

Two of our customers have gone into administration. Not huge ones, and we still made double our expected profit last quarter.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Which industry is that?

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

I work for a business ISP. Hosting services and the like.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

So where have your additional margins come from? Is this a market shift in reaction to the economy?

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

New customers, product sales, etc. We just underestimated by a lot.

It helps that our main competitor is having problems, as they went public earlier this year and are now in share freefall hell. People are coming over to us because they're not getting the service they used to with them.

[riksowden.livejournal.com]

I'm being careful, but thats something i've learnt to do whilst getting out of debt. So no real change for me, no.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

The thing which irritates me is the magazines with headlines like "Ten ways to save money during the crunch!" and so on, and then when you buy and read them they're always things like:
1) Shout "Bah! Humbug!" a lot and strike passing orphans about the head.
2) Gives your relatives lumps of coal for Christmas

And I do those things anyway, so all that happens is that I waste money on a magazine for suggestions I didn't need.

[(Anonymous)]

Your mother & I were moaning about this the other night, all the journalists turning out articles on "Ways to cut £50 off your household bills!" What planet do these people live on anyway? If I did that, they'd be paying me.

H

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

We've lost 20% of our staff to redundancies and our clients are reducing expenditure, capital expenditure budgets from retailers are vanishing and we're having to be a lot more creative about how we finance our deals.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Which industry is that?

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Software industry supplying to major retailers.

[flywingedmonkey.livejournal.com]

Well I got canned so that was a bit of a snit! Plus, as a jobhunter (albit one in a temp job) jobs are more thin on the ground. My girlfriend has had a minor downturn in buisness (she's a hairdresser at an expensive salon). And a friend who's a Dominatrix has had LOTS of drop off.

JmC
Mistresses and sex services the first to go!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

a friend who's a Dominatrix has had LOTS of drop off

Oo-ER!

[davedevil.livejournal.com]

We bought out one of our main competitors about six months back. The plan being we are so large as a training company now faliur should be very unlikely. No pay rises this year, but considering the market it makes sense. I would rahter be working for a company amassing a war chest.

Mostly life tootles on as normal, I'm booked up until first quarter 2008 allready but classes are alittle smaller. What interestingly seems to be happening is we are seeign more peopel being trained internally and contractors being given the chop.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

What do you train in?

[davedevil.livejournal.com]

Web development technologies mostly. Front through back end stuff

[(Anonymous)]

'allready but classes are alittle smaller. What interestingly seems to be happening is we are seeign more peopel'

He trains teachers in English spelling.

[manywaters.livejournal.com]

The demand for my cooking lessons has dropped significantly, and one of the reliable sources (a military charity) for small yet frequent grants for school has switched to loans only. We're economizing some, but thankfully royalcrown's job is quite stable. I may need to cut down on my college work, though.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

We're fine atm, couple of cut backs on expenditure (only £50,000 spent on the company xmas meal for example) but no noise anywhere about redundancies.

Away from work I'm noticing a lot of sales, 'economy brands', and a lot of people begging me to go into debt. Oh yeah, and housing becoming more theoretically affordable.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Blimey. We spent 2 1/2p on our Christmas bash and my partners still whined about the cost.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

core lab services are getting axed at Cancer Research UK and farmed out to "cheaper" outsources
my gas bill went up by 300%
no longer can afford to shop at poncy middle class supermarket since hefty price rises there

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

personally, it's a lot harder to find a job than I hoped it would be. the companies that usually hire new mbas from my university have freezes on, and I didn't get an offer through my internship.

right now I work for an airlines - you can read about our downturn in the papers. it's real. my last job was for a company that buys & sells backend computer hardware - business started going down in january, and by may it was bad enough that I wasn't replaced when I left. my dad's network consulting business just had its worst month ever.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'm certainly getting the impression that the US is getting it markedly worse than us, but that may be because it started in the US before it did here - you've probably got six months of extra general panic & misery on us, so maybe we've just got some catching up to do.

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

thus far that seems like the trend. personally, it feels like the UK may catch up in a hurry because of the large role banking plays in the economy.

one thing that's overblown here is people panicking about housing. Yes, there are parts of California, Michigan, and Florida where a lot of people are losing there homes. Where I live, people might be underwater, but no one I know or my parents know is losing their home to foreclosure.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Our colossal public sector debt is going to screw us badly as well; chances are it'll take a generation to pay back, if ever. As a noted commentator said "Our children will owe Gordon Brown a huge debt"

[hiromasaki.livejournal.com]

The wife got her internship, which is paid pretty much like you'd expect an internship to pay (eg, not even enough to cover the school loans) so the crunch is pretty bad...

We've had to start eating in, even when it's damned inconvenient (School nights, which mean dinner after 9PM), and haven't been to a proper restaurant for food in months. No movies out, and my plans for a new car have been put off until '10 at the earliest (At which point, who knows what make I'll be buying).

[omentide.livejournal.com]

Am I protected by my magickal ring of socialism?

I don't think our flat will lose much value either - it's towards the bottom end of the market. Might be a bit harder to sell but we're not looking to sell it at present.

[(Anonymous)]

"Am I protected by my magickal ring of socialism?"

Depends: what are you peddling it for?

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

I was poor already...the credit crunch makes me more grateful for my job

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Not affected much here. But then I am living a peasant lifestyle as a smallholder and so my costs are quite low compared to most people and I don't have a mortgage.

In the local towns we are seeing some businesses close down.

I suspect I may be a bit of a disappointment to Mr Darling. I drive a 10 year old car, my much loved leather jacket cost £15 at Oxfam, my jeans come from the local agro supplier, I bought one new book this year (and many sh) and we don't give or receive presents at Christmas....

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

I am perpetually skint, so I quite like the idea of the credit crunch, as a playing-field-leveller that will compress other people's wealth into something more commensurate with mine. Credit crunches are only bad for people with lots of credit; I was already a superdense credit singularity.