I'm going to be doing an interview tomorrow and the publication is wondering what Mommysavers moms think/are doing about a possible recession. I know that there was discussion that leads me to believe that many of you aren't affected - or don't see evidence that we're actually in a recession. So, here are my questions:

Do you see evidence that we're in a recession?
Are you doing anything special to cut back or prepare for a possible recession?

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I think we are heading towards a recession- we are not in it just yet. Im not really doing anything to prepare for it (although maybe I should) ... wait does the FTJ project count as preparing? j/k.

I found an interesting article that says it depends on the definition of a recession and it goes on to explain two definitions...

"The answer depends partly on which definition you choose. The textbook definition for a recession is two consecutive quarters — six months — of negative economic growth. Under this definition, the earliest we'd know is late June or July.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, which provides the dates for recessions after the fact, works off a broader definition. It defines recession as a "significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP (gross domestic product), real income, employment, industrial production and wholesale-retail sales." "

If you're interested in reading the article Click Here. It was published Jan. 24th, 2008.

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Well, I am one who does not think we are in a recession. At least not as bad as everybody seems to think/interpret we are.

However, we would have to live in a bubble (like my dh, apparently, who was shocked that milk was $4 a gallon the other day) not to see how prices have risen in the past few months. I think we all agree that affects us NOW.

So, I have been very, very careful about what we spend. I have been tracking every expenditure so I can see where everything went last month and continue to do that throughout the year. So far, it has been an eye opener for me. I also am using everything in the pantry before I go to the store, shop from my list solely, and (maybe this is not a good thing given my previous statement) NOT taking dh with me to a store if I can help it!

Are we in a recession?? I really don't know. Am I preparing for it if we are. Well, yes and no.

What I am really doing is preparing for a financial emergency wether it is recession caused or not. We are paying down our bills as fast as we can, and have started our emergency savings. By the end of the month we will have put away a total of 1k. Not a whole lot.. but at least it is a start. We started working on our finances about 2 years ago, when we took a class with Crown Financial.. so, we do have a spending plan.. which we would be able to adjust quite quickly if need be.

We are a one income (and one car) family.. so, if dh looses his job the plan is:
*He will go on unemployment, look for contract work & finish his college degree online (his dad is paying for it)
*I will take any job I can get, and be willing to work for minimum wage, as dh can be a stay at home dad, so we will not have any child care expense for our 2 children. (to take a job right now, I would need to make a minimum of $13/hr to make it worth the expenses we would incur)
*depending on the income from unemployment & my job we will look into other state assistance to fill the gaps.

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-Sarah

My "Forget the Joneses" Blog: Click Here

I believe we are in a recession. I am trying to make the best choices I can in order to prepare for dh's probable layoff this summer.

I am very concerned that we are moving into a recession. It seems to me everywhere I look and everyone I speak with is having issues with money. If its not the home heating costs, its the gas prices or the mortgage fiasco and those out of whack home appraisals. Not to mention the lose of 17,000 jobs in January. We have not had a lose in jobs in almost 4.5 years. All of our costs are going up and our pay is staying the same or just slightly increasing. Milk should not be breaking the bank and it is for many people. It is a scary time, but I thank god for Mommysavers and the support the site gives us all. I am concerned but I also feel I have been roping in my budget and making it work for me. There is a mommysaver that has a great signature line. Something like a poor man works for his money, a rich man has his money working for him. That great!
We need to empower ourselves that we can get through the tough times. Condition ourselves to live like no one else so we can live like no one else later. I am probably more concerned for people around me that are not adjusting their budgets right now.

Way to long winded I am sorry!

Recession or not there is definite economic trouble that we are all dealing with. However it is labeled. Obviously some communities are being affected faster than others - hello I live in Michigan!!

I think that there are things that people should be doing at this point and facing the uncertain economic conditions of the future.

1) Awareness of their finances. This is where mommysavers has helped me a lot and I see a lot of people I know doing similar things. Tracking where all of our spending is occurring and working to understand what of that spending is necessary and what is luxury. Even those that may not be actively trying to change their habits seem to recognize that they may want an idea of what they would do if that time came.

2) Re-evaluating their larger financial decisions. This would include contracts that are held with utilities, decisions to purchase large items like cars, mortgage situations (a lot of people on this one!), etc. For us it was taking a realistic look at our home's value and deciding to hold off on some remodeling that we had scheduled for this year. The market has fallen so much that we would be putting money into a remodel that would 1) remove money from our savings, while 2) not effectively adding to the market value of our property. We can wait.

3) And some have moved on to actually change the way they are living in order to rid themselves of debt or add to their savings. The main idea is the same. To put yourself in the best financial position to deal with the future.

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I think there are definitely signs, but I'm not doing anything differently than I was before...really.
Months ago I decided that we were going to be totally out of debt. We started putting every little bit of $ towards our debt. Recently there were layoffs where I work so it brought the recession issue closer to home. I was already pretty intense abt getting rid of debt and now after these layoffs I'm even more intense.
Having no debt if there really is going to be a recession is the one thing that I think will save us. We can do so much more with the $ we earn if we don't have payments!

Honestly, it doesn't matter to us. My dh is in a highly paid and demanded career field, he's loved by his company, they can't do most of their contracts without him and he gets job offers every week so I'm not worried in the least. Now if he wasn't so highly in demand and could lose his job, I might be worried, but right now for our family it doesn't matter. We'll keep saving and working on paying our vehicles off, saving to move next year and for baby #4, just like always. Probably the only difference we will see is lack of investment earnings in our 401K with the stock market down, but we are in our 20s, plenty of time for it to go back up for retirement.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

I have to say that I dont think it would take much to send us into a recession, but I think my family is financially prepared, the only thing I worry about if one comes is the rise in crime that would be inevitable IMO