Am I feeling the effects of this economy? You bet.
I am to the point of being homeless? Not yet.
Do I think about loosing my house? Every day.
I work in construction so it is understandable that my pay checks have been hit pretty hard. At first overtime dried up. This was no huge deal but it was a nice safety valve. It also paid for the majority of our Disney trips. The next thing that went were are Christmas bonuses. This was a bite as that bonus was my Christmas budget. Now I had to pull form other places for that money as well as drastically trim down what we did for Christmas. The next thing to get axed were annual cost of living raises. As of right now I have not had a raise in 3 years. The last bit bite was 10% pay reduction. Both of those hurt big time.
When I look at the big picture I am making less per year then I was 8 years ago while the cost of groceries, gas and electricity has skyrocketed. Pretty much every non essential has been cut (Disney, eating out, movies etc) We still have a few places we can make cuts but they would not amount to more than a few hundred bucks per month. Right now we are just holding are heads above water. All it is going to take is one more set back to put us in a position where defaulting on our mortgage is a real possibility.
That set back is a real possibility come mid December as my wife was just notified that she may be put into surplus (fancy word for laid off) in mid December. My job is also not guaranteed in any way. I work for a small company and quite honestly the owner can shut the doors whenever he wants.
Things do seem to be steady in my business right now and I am really hoping that the election, regardless of who wins, will result in a turnaround. Economics seem to be as much about psychology as it does money. When people feel good the economy is good. When all they hear is doom and gloom the economy goes into the crapper.
