How has the recession affected your lifestyle?

Discussion Open Forum
41

As long as you have enough money to tide you over then you’ll be fine. It will get better eventually. If relatively young, in good health and maintain the best asset you have i.e your brain, even better. Can’t say the same thing though for people who invested at the top or are in their 50 and 60s

And as regards not spending money and thereby slowing the economy further, well irrespective of the economic situation people should buy what they need, not what you want. If you don’t need the new DVD player, TV or car, then don’t buy it.

Tighten the belt and get leaner I guess. There’s a lot of waste. You know in one study it was found that 1/3 of food purchased in supermarkets goes in the bin. Go shopping with a list and don’t go shopping if you are hungry. Also shop around and negotiate the price whenever you can

Also another rule I heard was to keep 1 years salary (or more precisely the amount you need to get through a year) in an accessible place

42

consumerist.com/consumer/clips/s … 252491.php

I had a good laugh with this skit.

My lifestyle has always been by and large frugal. I’ve had a few rare large purchases: my first and only TV, a motorcycle, and laptop.

I tend to go out less to bars, but only because I’ve been busier with other things lately. I still get my accupressure massages, as my back has been much better from it (but these services are so cheap in asia).

Free rent helps tremendously. I’ve been on pay-as-you-go phone card for awhile, no cable tv, only internet and water and electric bills. No magazine subscriptions or other recurring payments.

Now my company is talking about “extending” CNY holiday. I see that as the vacation I should have gotten in the first place.

I suppose the best (and worst) is that I’ve got nobody to support, but me.

43

I work in promotions and entertainment. I am now actually making less than my monthly bills. Problem is that I’m still too busy to get a second job.
The man works in the housing industry. They keep having layoffs in his company. He’s expecting to get the axe in the next set in January (mostly because he knows they are about to lay off half of what is left of the DFW office and that pretty much only leaves management).
So yeah. We ain’t lovin it.

44

It’s a good idea to have a decent enough amount of cash. Also, for me, I’m planning on doing a big jaunt through Asia in the not too-distant future, so I need to have liquidity and certainty (ie. not a market that could go who knows where) in the short-term.

This is different to what it used to mean though. For example, I could sit my money in an account here or an account back in Australia earning three fifths of five eights of bugger all percent (which was the old way of having access to your money), or I could (and do) have it in a higher interest bearing account. I have two accounts set up through my bank in Australia (one of the Big Four). Actually, I also have my credit card (which I pay off in full when I make a rare internet purchase, or immediately when I get home if it’s one of the extremely rare times I buy something big enough that I don’t have the cash sitting around to buy it outright) hooked up to it. The internet only one is hooked up to the normal account, and I can transfer back and forth all I like. Likewise with my credit card. Yet, in the accessible account, I get virtually no interest. In the other account, I get 6%. So, shortly before I have any expense (such as a regular, automatic investment in mutual funds, or a credit card bill), I simply transfer my money to the accessible account. Likewise, when I send money back to Australia, it goes into the low interest account, and then I transfer it into the higher interest account. It’s liquid, but it still pays decent returns.

What I can’t understand is how my bank also offers term-deposits at lower interest rates. Maybe I’m not understanding those, but they don’t seem to make any sense. Other than a minimum balance requirement (which my account has), I can’t see any benefit to term deposits at my bank (and other banks seem quite comparable). They tie up your money and offer less return. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in the risk either.

When I go back to Australia to visit family in January, I’m going to investigate other options that will pay even more than 6%.

Here in Taiwan, I keep a buffer that will get me through any short-term hassles. At the start of each month, I take out my budget (pretty low) in cash, and I also pay my rent via my account. Soon, I probably won’t even need to do that as my privates basically pay for my living expenses (except my rent, but that’s not that far off either) and I have a good cash flow in that respect. Then, the rest I end up sending to my account in Australia every couple of months. It doesn’t make sense to keep a lot of cash in my account here in Taiwan as it’s not doing anything. If my circumstances changed, then I might have to re-assess all of that, and possibly dip into my money in Australia, but right now, it just doesn’t make sense to have anything even remotely approaching a six figure sum in my Taiwanese bank account.

45

I buy more food stuff than I need at anyplace I can find a good buy. When you look back in history, a shortage of food is a big problem for those that arn’t getting shot.
When you buy grains, rice, pinto beans and the like, buy an abundance. It’s amazing how long a sock full of rice will sustain a person.
I aim for a six month supply. Rice and pinto beans are a good choice. Stockpile some sugar, honey and mollassas. For vegys. opt for Costco canned stuff. Corn, peas, tomatoes, etc. It’s not possible to store your water here but you can put in some boxes of bottled water and tea. Stock in some canned protein. I see canned tuna, chicken, salmon and, heaven help us all, Spam at Costco. It may not be everything you want but it will keep you alive.
Start by making a list of all the thing that are a MUST, then those things that you like, then those things that you will eat but … you would just as soon die. (Spam is in that categorie for me)
My point is make a list and start today to fill the list. In times of hardship, we either need a garden or a well stockpilled larder. It is nearly impossible here to grow your own, so you have to do stockpile.
My SO argues with me all the time when I buy too much and when I have plans to store but I know that she will change her mind if a disaster hits. My problem will entail her 8 brothers and sisters with their kids. In times of hardship, we have to take care of family too.
When SARS hit, you couldn’t buy the good 3M masks at less than 100 NT. We suffered through and after the crises, I bought 100 of the good masks. Maybe I will never need them but I know that my SO and her family will have what they need.
Plan Plan Plan

46

I’m propping up the UK retail economy, just a little, every day.

I’m wondering whether I should have my roots done every eight weeks instead of six? Start shopping at M&S instead of Waitrose?

But seriously though. Can’t really think of many ways in which it negatively affects someone like me who doesn’t own anything that couldn’t be shoved in a bag at five mins notice. My work’s fairly recession proof so my pathetic income is safe. All I see are sales and cheaper goods everywhere to get me spending.

47

I’ve never really been smart with money…but I’ve been lucky with it. I just don’t spend money on “stuff”. We are careful with what we do with our money and it has paid off. We are saving quite a bit as compared to other middle class folks.

My house in the states was recently appraised and it has gone up in value :ponder: Not much, mind you, but it did go up.

My job should be pretty safe. I’m not worried about.

I’m not worried about the stock market as I have faith that it will recover in time. That being said…I used to be rich. :laughing: What else can you do but laugh and wait for things to get better?

Recession? Most of these things previous posters in this thread have mentioned should of been done long before this recession hit.

48

Enigma:

Actually I think the zongzi are made with banana leaves.

49

And canned turkey breast at the Neihu branch, at the moment.

50

i’m stocking up on powdered water.

51

[quote=“Enigma”]I buy more food stuff than I need at anyplace I can find a good buy. When you look back in history, a shortage of food is a big problem for those that arn’t getting shot.
When you buy grains, rice, pinto beans and the like, buy an abundance. It’s amazing how long a sock full of rice will sustain a person.
I aim for a six month supply. Rice and pinto beans are a good choice. Stockpile some sugar, honey and mollassas. For vegys. opt for Costco canned stuff. Corn, peas, tomatoes, etc. It’s not possible to store your water here but you can put in some boxes of bottled water and tea. Stock in some canned protein. I see canned tuna, chicken, salmon and, heaven help us all, Spam at Costco. It may not be everything you want but it will keep you alive.
Start by making a list of all the thing that are a MUST, then those things that you like, then those things that you will eat but … you would just as soon die. (Spam is in that categorie for me)
My point is make a list and start today to fill the list. In times of hardship, we either need a garden or a well stockpilled larder. It is nearly impossible here to grow your own, so you have to do stockpile.
My SO argues with me all the time when I buy too much and when I have plans to store but I know that she will change her mind if a disaster hits. My problem will entail her 8 brothers and sisters with their kids. In times of hardship, we have to take care of family too.
When SARS hit, you couldn’t buy the good 3M masks at less than 100 NT. We suffered through and after the crises, I bought 100 of the good masks. Maybe I will never need them but I know that my SO and her family will have what they need.
Plan Plan Plan[/quote]

That sounds like quite a plan indeed. When Revelations comes true, I think I’ll go and chill chez Enigma. :slight_smile:

52

This one.

[quote]Taiwanese economy slumps into recession

[b]Taiwan’s economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008, the government said Wednesday.

The island’s economy spiraled into recession with its second straight quarter of economic losses.[/b] For the third quarter of 2008, Taiwan’s real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, slipped about 1 percent, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Behind the dismal economic numbers is a global recession that is sapping demand for the products Taiwan makes.

“The types of exports that Taiwan ships to the West – electronics – are very severely affected, very sensitive to changes in Western consumer sentiment,” said Frederic Neumann, a senior Asian economist for HSBC.

The GDP numbers are the broadest measure of Taiwan’s economic activity. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

Taiwan’s central bank, in a move to boost the economy, on Wednesday dropped its key interest rate one-quarter point, to 1.25 percent.

Since the end of 2007, the central bank has lowered rates by more than 2 percent.

In January, the Taiwanese government offered the island’s residents up to $108 each to go shopping, in another attempt to stimulate the economy.

More than 90 percent of those eligible took up the offer, pumping about TW $86 billion ($2.6 billion) into the economy and sending shoppers to malls, officials said.[/quote]

53

Now, great to hear you’re all cutting back on the little things in life … but that’s exactly what drags down the economy and pulls us in a recession … so, help the economy and start spending! :ohreally:

54

I’m doing my part. We bought a new washer-dryer and I got an iPhone.

55

I’m doing my part. We bought a new washer-dryer and I got an iPhone.[/quote]

And I’ve been doing my part, spending like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve poured well over NT$10 million into this economy in the last few months.

56

I don’t know how the recession has affected my lifestyle, but it has.

57

[quote]The GDP numbers are the broadest measure of Taiwan’s economic activity. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.
[/quote]

Can we trust an article that doesn’t know the definition of a recession. A recession is two quarters of negative GDP growth. GDP growth can still fall and be positive i.e., the economy can still be growing.

Though, I did notice an article somewhere saying Taiwan has been one of the hardest hit countries in the world in terms of un- and underemployment. Not surprising. However, recently I’ve become a little more positive about the outlook for Taiwan. Years ago there was ridiculous talk of Taiwan becoming a regional economic center. I’m beginning to believe that which was once fantasy has some hope of becoming a reality these days. When the next growth spurt comes (and it will come) then China will come into focus even more so then it has in recent years as a market and world factory. With the shift in politics in Taiwan, China will become all the more reliant of Taiwanese business management expertise and with the advent of direct links Taiwanese business people will not have to totally uproot their lives to do business in China. Western companies wishing to do business in China with long standing successful relationships in Taiwan would rather direct their operations from a base like Taiwan which has become all the more sophisticated in the last 20 years in terms of infrastructure, food, schooling, lifestyle possibilities etc. Plus Taiwan’s banks are loaded. It’s an old story, I realize, but I think it is much more likely these days then when it was first flaunted in the 90s.

58

lol. that’s funny or scary. very scary.

59

I’ve always been quite frugal in my spending habits, but my extra income recently (from more work) has made me able to spend money on things. Plus the rent for our apartment has gone down, putting an extra couple grand in NT$ in my pocket. And the sale of our car will save us on taxes, gas, insurance and repairs, and gave us a chunk of change.

Even so, I’ve cut my expenses. Less going to bars, and more buying beers at RT-Mart or 7-11 and partying at friends’ houses. Less eating at sit-down restaurants and more night-market stalls.

60

Froggers, the headlines today are really scary:

Taiwan’s economy hits recession - Taiwan News

Economy contracts by record 8.36% - Taipei Times

Taiwan GDP to contract 2.97% - China Post

Not very calming these guys.

Personally, I am starting to find it harder and harder to save money. There is not much left after paying all necessary things. Dog and cats’ treatments are taking a big bite of my budget. I had already cut corners in a lot of non essentials, but food costs have increased quite a bit, and keep on growing…

If I could, I would be having a second job or some extra lessons on the side to feel safer moneywise.