Has the recession had any effect on your life style?

Muckit

Just a follow on fron the electricity supplier tread...

Where have lads cut back on their spending in general?
Has it had a huge effect on your lifestyle?

Dozer1

Definitely,
Luckily we're both still in our jobs but we've increased our savings and haven't been on a foreign holiday in nearly 3 years.
Nights out have been cut down to nothing, only get some drink for the house when its on offer.
Sky package is down to the basic aswell.

Its more fear than anything, plus our first kid arrived 3 months ago so all that expense has swallowed up alot of spare cash, still shes brilliant:)

Both cars changed to diesel, and credit card nearly has dust on it, only tend to use it for rare online stuff.

still there are alot of my friends in much worse situations so I'm not going to complain.

Username John

Dozer1 wrote: »

Definitely,
Luckily we're both still in our jobs but we've increased our savings and haven't been on a foreign holiday in nearly 3 years.
Nights out have been cut down to nothing, only get some drink for the house when its on offer.
Sky package is down to the basic aswell.

Its more fear than anything, plus our first kid arrived 3 months ago so all that expense has swallowed up alot of spare cash, still shes brilliant:)

Both cars changed to diesel, and credit card nearly has dust on it, only tend to use it for rare online stuff.

still there are alot of my friends in much worse situations so I'm not going to complain.

Same as that - both of us still working, so cant complain.

We have cut back on spends, similiarly - more out of fear and preparation for the rainy day.

But... a combination of more tax plus stuff still seems to be getting more expensive means the salary seems to buy less and less all the time...

Like, our income hasnt really changed, but the amount of money we have to spend each month seems to be getting smaller...
This is despite cutting back and being more watchful of where money gets spent...

But as to the question of has it had a huge effect on our lifestyle - to be fair, it probably hasnt that much. Its made us think twice about spending money. And its things like upgrading the car or holidays are the main things affected - and neither of them bother me too much...

reilig

We're both working as well - thankfully.

Spent 3 years building a house and scrimping and saving our salaries so that we didn't have too big of mortgage - so we were used to being on a tight budget.

Haven't had a holiday in 3 years - at home or abroad.

The child has started creche this year - at over €600 per month, its more than half of what we pay each month for mortgage.

Starting to see a small bit more profit from farming, but the Mrs as a teacher now brings home less money than me per week, even though she is on €5k per year more of a basic salary.

So I suppose with or without recession, our lifestyle is affected!

Muckit

jeez, I'm half sorry now for starting this tread, it's a downbeat - but reality done the less.

Seems we're all singing off the same hymn sheet though and there's always comfort in knowing that it's not just yourself thats affected.

As with most posters here we've cut back, but can't say we're too badly off by any stretch of the imagination.

Getting married late next year so we've a 'pot' (separate bank a/c) set up for that.

Mortgage is small. Thank God I bought in in 2004 and had the sense to know the difference between what I could 'get' and what I could 'pay'.

Cut out the gym membership (now jog), bring in lunch as to eating out the whole time, and lucky enough to live near eough to be able to cycle to work. OH got job only 15min away. She was commuting hour and a half so MASSIVE fuel savings there. Now if only I could get her to drive slower....:o

Twud be 'hard times' indeed if the drink had to go, so like mentioned the box of beer when on offer.

Eating out is replaced by the odd takeaway.

BeeDI

I have discovered, that you can get five days out of the same tea bag;)

Cran

got lucky and well aware of it...... both still working in decent paying jobs no pay rises but I got promoted so had an effect. the boom and bust prob came at the right time for me, took over the farm in 2004 and needed to invest in a house to live there and then improvement such as fencing, tractor, stock investment etc and loans + mortgage were ready available... spent the last 2 years paying down the loans while the rise in prices have helped continue the investment... wouldn't like to be starting now without the cash would take much longer to implement the improvements
as mentioned though well aware how lucky have been as see many strained faces around the place

dar31

Dozer1 wrote: »

Definitely,
Luckily we're both still in our jobs but we've increased our savings and haven't been on a foreign holiday in nearly 3 years.
Nights out have been cut down to nothing, only get some drink for the house when its on offer.
Sky package is down to the basic aswell.

Its more fear than anything, plus our first kid arrived 3 months ago so all that expense has swallowed up alot of spare cash, still shes brilliant:)

Both cars changed to diesel, and credit card nearly has dust on it, only tend to use it for rare online stuff.

still there are alot of my friends in much worse situations so I'm not going to complain.

sounds like life before the recession.

life has nt changed much, if any thing it has got better.
no longer have to watch people living the high life, while we get on with it.

Min

I think things have improved for me, prices for milk and cattle are good.

I won't complain.

whelan1

my husband delivers gutters/flashings for a local business, up til this month he was lucky to get 1 load a week , now he has a load everyday , this week alone he has been to cork twice and also to galway, sligo and enniskillen... wont be home til tomorrow and away to cork again sunday night.... there must be a lot of building work being done . maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel

weefarmer

This thread made me think of time last summer I was at FAS in galway and the teacher asked how we were all fighting the recession and all the boys gave out about no money to go out and stuff like that, when he came to me, I said I havent had a single drink since new years day, I sold my van and started saving as much as I could
He gave the others a right giving out to after that saying that they should cop on a bit and take a leaf out of my book and focus the important things!
It has affected me alright but only things that are not important, really opened my eyes to all the money that I have wasted over the yeats!

A319er

Hi
new to this but I can tell ya about eejit me....
I was mad , I bought a brand new 2007 Mazda RX8 to impress myself and whoever, today it is outside my house gleaming unused, too expensive to drive and i am unemployed !! NCT due next friday and it needs a service, set spark plus €260!!

Soooo I am thinking of stealing a few hens from weefarmer and using the thing as a hen house to get eggs to sell at the farmers market, how do I legally advertise them as "free range" , eggs might smell of leather !!

was I a tool or wha?

anyway I can tell u car looks great and god did I learn a leason , thank god the finace is over ...mind u once a week I hit the motorway and live the tiger dream for an hour at high speed.....

I dont get depressed tho, its a very good reminder never live beyound my means again never take out a car loan and stop fooling myself .....funny thats what my Dad used to say to me lol

Tora Bora

whelan1 wrote: »

my husband delivers gutters/flashings for a local business, up til this month he was lucky to get 1 load a week , now he has a load everyday , this week alone he has been to cork twice and also to galway, sligo and enniskillen... wont be home til tomorrow and away to cork again sunday night.... there must be a lot of building work being done . maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel

Nah! I'd say he is having an affair:D

whelan1

Tora Bora wrote: »

Nah! I'd say he is having an affair:D

away with him:D

yourpics

It hasn't affected the farmers round my way, all still driving new landcruisers and new john deere's.

whelan1

yourpics wrote: »

It hasn't affected the farmers round my way, all still driving new landcruisers and new john deere's.

we have 00 renault scenic, a 1996 isuzu trooper , a 00 tm 125 new holland, a 1998 jcb a 1991 case 885... all paid for ... no new landcruisers or john deeres here, oh lorry is a 1998 volvo also paid for.... :rolleyes:

Kovu

I'm not complaining about it either, got a new job and a house inheritance. But have lost lots of my mates who have moved abroad

Don't turn this into a depressing thread, sure haven't we more going for us than people with no land and no job and a mortgage. Where there's muck there's money!

Anyway, little off topic but made me laugh, there can always be someone worse off than you!


A Department official stopped at a farm in Meath , and talked with the old farmer.
He told the farmer, "I need to inspect your land for illegally grown drugs."
The farmer said, "Okay , but don't go in that field over there.....", as he pointed out the location.

The Dep official verbally exploded saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Department of Agriculture with me !"

Reaching into his rear pocket, he removed his ID and and proudly displayed it to the farmer.

"See this?! This means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... On any land !!
No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear......do you understand ?!!"

The farmer nodded politely, apologised, and went about his chores.

A short time later, the old farmer heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the Dep official running for his life, being chased by the farmer's big Charolais bull......

With every step the bull was gaining ground on the official, and it seemed likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The official was clearly terrified.

The farmer threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs.....


"Your ID, show him your ID........ ! !":D

Bizzum

I work for the state, so my wages were much the same for most of the "good times", took a pounding in recent years alright.
I did'nt buy a second house, I still drive the same car as I did when thing were on a high, it's 13 now and still flying!
I built a house, mostly myself over several years so the mortgage is very low. I was never one for foreign holidays, but in recent years would take off of a weekend around the country.
I suppose things are now tighter but I am frugal enough, I have a job, and the few cattle so I'm fine.
I feel sorry for folks with a huge mortgage and no job, most Irish families can see the effects particularly on the younger ones starting out career wise.

tismesoitis

whelan1 wrote: »

we have 00 renault scenic, a 1996 isuzu trooper , a 00 tm 125 new holland, a 1998 jcb a 1991 case 885... all paid for ... no new landcruisers or john deeres here, oh lorry is a 1998 volvo also paid for.... :rolleyes:

like u we have a 02 trooper a 83 mf290 and a 1990 mf398 all paid for and absolutly no intention to upgrade. Love the old thing that just keep goin both machines end animals:):)

bob charles

I find any pound earned nowadays gives much me much more clout when Im buying non ag product. Life hasnt changed as I never lived a different life, still go out as much as before, but probably work harder but thats just evolution of our a business, Probably working smarter more so and employ more people for doing the time consuming jobs/contract work as used to work stupid hours as a kid. About time the wind was blowing with the farmers backs

yourpics

whelan1 wrote: »

we have 00 renault scenic, a 1996 isuzu trooper , a 00 tm 125 new holland, a 1998 jcb a 1991 case 885... all paid for ... no new landcruisers or john deeres here, oh lorry is a 1998 volvo also paid for.... :rolleyes:

Yes but I don't have a jeep, a tractor or a digger or lorry!! I've never had sky tv, foreign holidays or anything like that so I suppose my life hasn't changed because of the recession. However I am at a standstill and as a result of the recession I cannot progress myself any further!

sea12

I am also lucky in that both myself and wife are still working. I got a bit of promotion earlier in the year so it off set the cuts from USC earlier in the year.
Wife is on maternity leave at the moment but not sure she will be able to go back to job as its a 90 min commute and she would literary handing over her wages to childminder and miss out on our daughter growing up.

So in a few months time things will be a bit different. However have spent allot investing in the farm the past few years so its pretty much ok for the next few years. Hopefully will reap the benefits of it.

Definitely don't go out as much, concentrate on saving more and trying to reduce the mortgage as quick as possible.
Like allot of people its fear more than anything else!

pakalasa

Not effected by this recession but was by the last one, in the late 80's. I ended up emigrating then. The only regret is, I didn't do it sooner. It will be a few years before things turn in this country again, and they will never return to the dizzy heights on the Celtic Tiger. We simply spent others people's money then. We wont be allowed do that again.

blue5000

whelan1 wrote: »

we have 00 renault scenic, a 1996 isuzu trooper , a 00 tm 125 new holland, a 1998 jcb a 1991 case 885... all paid for ... no new landcruisers or john deeres here, oh lorry is a 1998 volvo also paid for.... :rolleyes:

whelan you bet me by a year on the car and the jeep, but you'll never beat me on the 46 yr old tractor, which is probably worth 3x what I paid for it! I suppose I owe it money.

OP what exactly is a lifestyle? It's a lot harder to keep the bills paid now than it used to be.

just do it

Negative equity coming out my ears!

Still working though and have had 2 kids since the tiger was culled. They make up for any recession:D. 2 hours at the beach with them this morning - much better than any sun holiday!

Lucky that most things we enjoy are free. Travelled loads in my 20s so no great desire to holiday abroad. We don't go out much, neither of us smoke and we don't drink much. Watching the pennies though which is no harm. I was a bit foolhardy before getting married and having the kids. In the habit of it now though, so don't even notice that we've tightened the belt.

Things had gone crazy anyway, reality had to hit home at some stage.

Important to keep the focus on the most important things in life. You can't take the money with you! Comedy is a great thing. About 2/3 years ago we were having a rough evening going through our finances when Father Ted came on. We laughed the house down - it was the best tonic ever. Since then we're just not willing to get upset about money!

keep going

had 2 right tight years in 09 and most of 10 but coming good now.got into good habits like telling the children they were bold and sending to bed with out their supper or triping the switch and telling the wife there is a power cut or let the air out of a tyre so she cant use the car;)

Muckit

blue5000 wrote: »

OP what exactly is a lifestyle?

I thought this was the best way to phrase the tread. It's not about how much 'money you are down.' Everyone lives their life differently and people have different standards of living. It's all relative then when it comes to cutting back.

Basically if you can still do most of the things you did before the recession (albeit perhaps less frequently), then your lifestyle hasn't changed a whole lot.

pakalasa

There's a big difference in this respect between rural and urban living. To do stuff in the city, it's all about spending money. Whereas in the the country, most of the enjoyable things are either free or the cost of petrol to get there.:D

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

There's a big difference in this respect between rural and urban living. To do stuff in the city, it's all about spending money. Whereas in the the country, most of the enjoyable things are either free or the cost of petrol to get there.:D

so true, i built up a tower with empty mineral buckets a few weeks ago, kids spent hours kicking football at the buckets and building it back up again:)

keep going

as i was mowing to day i was thinking about this.the best thing about this recession is that the feeling that everyone else is doing better than me is gone.:)

epff

keep going wrote: »

had 2 right tight years in 09 and most of 10 but coming good now.got into good habits like telling the children they were bold and sending to bed with out their supper or triping the switch and telling the wife there is a power cut or let the air out of a tyre so she cant use the car;)

tnx for tips recently married a towny paye woman those tips will come in handy this winter

pakalasa

keep going wrote: »

as i was mowing to day i was thinking about this.the best thing about this recession is that the feeling that everyone else is doing better than me is gone.:)

For me it's not having to listen to the "Cute Hoors" who bought 10 houses and "could retire now, if they wanted to" and that you were the "last gob****e of the western world for not getting into property".
A bit of Shadenfreude, but ......:D

reilig

pakalasa wrote: »

For me it's not having to listen to the "Cute Hoors" who bought 10 houses and "could retire now, if they wanted to" and that you were the "last gob****e of the western world for not getting into property".
A bit of Shadenfreude, but ......:D

Totally agree. Have an aquaintance who at 26 owned mortgaged 3 houses while he was working as a QS. He was full of advice and smart comments about all the money that he was making and how the houses were paying for themselves. Thought we were fools when we bought 25 acres of land - said we'd never see a return on it. He's back living with his parents now, no job, no houses and going on the bus every day to do a FAS course on Kerb laying. I have the loan on my land paid off too.

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

Totally agree. Have an aquaintance who at 26 owned mortgaged 3 houses while he was working as a QS. He was full of advice and smart comments about all the money that he was making and how the houses were paying for themselves. Thought we were fools when we bought 25 acres of land - said we'd never see a return on it. He's back living with his parents now, no job, no houses and going on the bus every day to do a FAS course on Kerb laying. I have the loan on my land paid off too.

You'I have all that. They say you have to speculate to accumulate. I think the golden rule is not to invest any more than you can afford to lose. Thank God he kept in with the parents eh?:rolleyes: A lot of bragging comes from hidden insecurities. Perhaps he wasn't as happy as he was letting on. Maybe, in a strange way, he could be happier now. That's great going on paying back on the land. A lot of people would find it hard to pay back a 5 year car loan

JohnBoy

Have been on a pay freeze for 3 years now, and employers pension contribution stopped, but apart from that we've been incredibly lucky.

Less and less coming in the pay packet with each budget, but that's no different to everyone else.

We didnt really have an extravagant lifestyle and having two kids since this all went pear shaped has meant our lifestyle was gonna change massively anyway.


Our only real recession related issue we have is that we want to move house. We bought our house in 2006 with a lovely 100% mortgage and have spent around 50k since then rennovating it.

Our only hope is that the rennovations should go some way to offsetting the fall in value.


But all in all we really cant complain, relatively speaking we're on the ducks back.



My biggest upshot from the recession is that no-one looks at me like I've two heads when I say I've a ten or twelve year old car.

Username John

pakalasa wrote: »

For me it's not having to listen to the "Cute Hoors" who bought 10 houses and "could retire now, if they wanted to" and that you were the "last gob****e of the western world for not getting into property".
A bit of Shadenfreude, but ......:D

Shadenfreude - thats a new word to me, had to look it up, but tis one that could come in useful these times all right...

reilig wrote: »

Totally agree. Have an aquaintance who at 26 owned mortgaged 3 houses while he was working as a QS. He was full of advice and smart comments about all the money that he was making and how the houses were paying for themselves. Thought we were fools when we bought 25 acres of land - said we'd never see a return on it. He's back living with his parents now, no job, no houses and going on the bus every day to do a FAS course on Kerb laying. I have the loan on my land paid off too.

I love the last line Reilg...

Kovu

All i can add to this is that people laughed at me when I started working with cattle 6 years ago, when I was still in college. They're not laughing now. But the bubble of cattle will burst as well With the amount of people trying to get into it as it appears profitable currently, I only hope it can go well for a few years.