All of the talk about layoffs and the down turn in the economy was just talk to me. Until recently.... Now a few local (small community) business are laying off people and I know several people who have been laid off All of the sudden it has become much more real to me. Even though mine and dh's jobs are secure (at the moment), it is still starting to scare me a bit. Anyone else suddenly realize that this situation is really real?

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~Happiness is a large family~

Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. James 1:19

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24

DH has been laid off for a month now...I can't wait for the economy to turn around...IF it does....

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"When you are a mother you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child."-Sophia Loren
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"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take." -Cardinal Mermillod
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When DH's company sent out a paycut for everyone (just 2% but still it's a paycut.) They're already operating on bare minimum employees and now sending out a paycut for everyone.
Then my company sent out a notice that all pay would be frozen and they would be laying off 2500-3000 employees globally... We're the #1 direct selling company in the world... Who knows what could come next!

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Last August when my husband lost his job. It has been getting clearer ever since with his inability to find anything, and I mean anything, since. Unemployment in our county is at 15%, and expected to get worse. We're hanging in there, though. Thankfully I still have a job, if it wasn't for that I don't know what would happen.

Jose'.

Unfortunately it's been a way of life around here for a couple years (being near Lansing and Flint, MI - a huge majority of folks were all employed through GM or Ford etc, or for parts makers for them).

MI is at what, 10%+ unemployment now? Closing in on 11%? US average is ~7%, which is what MI was a year ago. I've heard many, many times that MI is a bellwether for the nation, so sad to say, it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. I can't tell you how many people I know now that aren't working, or are working for cash here and there, trying to make ends meet.

DH has been laid off and hired back once already, and a lot of the guys he works with were laid off indefinitely.

There is no such thing as a secure job here anymore, I don't think. Heck, you'd think that they'd want to maintain powerlines, but they are willing to risk fines by the public service commission rather than pay employees here now.

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We know four men who have lost their jobs locally. (Three have SAHWs.) One was in fundraising, one was in pharmaceutical sales, one in industrial electronic sales, and one in commercial financial services.

And everyday we hear about the dire situations of those in manufacturing around us. Scary.

I posted about helping friends/relatives who have lost their jobs in the Saving Money thread. Would love more input.

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Buy local. Save the jobs in your community.

Same here. DH has been laid off since the middle of January. I hope things get better soon-but I'm not too sure the way everything is going right now.

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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.....

DH got laid off a few weeks ago, so it has really hit home for us. He has always been gainfully employed and we never thought anything like this would ever happen to us. I've been a SAHM for 8 years and we still have a toddler home all day, so thank goodness we have always kept living expenses set aside. If this hadn't happened to us, I could never have understood the stress that all the uncertainty brings, even if you DO have enough money to get by for awhile.

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Thus far...not directly. My SIL's husband did get laid off for a little bit, but is now working on a contract job until the end of March....after that I'm not sure what will happen.

For us though, DH is working on a volunteer 4-day week but all those 4 days aren't a guaranteed 7.5 hour days either so its been a bit of an adjustment for us (he went from a job of 14+ hour days to maybe 4-5....).

I just hope it doesn't get worse or else we're going to have to make some very tough decisions......

My job is steady but I'm leaving on mat leave in 3 months so that source of income will drop dramatically. I'm actually getting a little scared for our future.....

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well this friday most of the 2nd shift at dh's job will get laid off. the few they will keep will move to first. i'm just hoping that his job survives. when he started working there over 10 years ago they had 4 shifts of workers now they are down to a bare bones 1rst shift scary what can happen in 10 years.

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