How has the Economy affected your life and (bb'ing lifestyle)?

[thebrick]

Bumping a thread from a year ago!

…and you thought the economy was bad 12 months ago?

How is it effecting your bodybuilding lifestyle today? ie: Stress, personal budgets, etc. How are you dealing with it? Or are you a lucky one and its not effecting you that much?

 

[notsobig32]

Thanks for the bump brick.

Personally, i am just more frugal with all of my purchases these days and while i like acme meat better, i go whereever the meat that i am buying is cheapest. My wife and i have also started cutting out coupons and honestly this seems to be helping a lot, on average we save around $30 per trip.

We have also reduced the number of times that we will got out to dinnner, the movies, etc to one time per week. it is kinda our date night and i think it has made us look forward to and enjoy date night more.

As for jobs, i am in IT and i am definitely seeing things tighten up. Spending on IT related projects and all has dropped drastically. We are not hiring anyone right now(hiring freeze), and bonuses have been eliminated.

Still, things could be a lot worse and i am very thankful for what i do have and that i am able to support my family during these tough times.

 

[tkav1980]

fortunately for me my situation hasnt changed much. my salery is alittle higher but my bills havent changed except for fluctuations in gas prices. i dont really have time to do anything with my work schedual besides go to work and train which helps me alot because i dont have the opportunity to spend my money. whenever i do shop i just look for the deals, went to old navy yesterday because all of my jeans are 3 years old and just dont fit anymore and got 3 pair of jeans and a buttload of t shirts i think 18 items total and only spent $100. in the summer when i do get a chance i spend all day at the beach which is great because its a block from the house and doesnt cost me anything other than the food i bring. if you make the right decisions and pinch pennies now and save you wont run into problems the next time this happens. oh and about going out to eat, if you cant afford to give a proper tip please stay out of restaurants, servers spend 4-10 hours a day on theyre feet dealing with every kind of asshole you can imagine without a break other than to go to the bathroom and only get paid 2.13 per hour. i really hate it when people come in and spend $100 on dinner and leave my servers $4. its how they pay theyre bills. lol sorry to go off on a tangent.

 

[jcwill]

i have actually been doing better cuz of everything, gas was high but its way lower, i own a restaraunt so i cheap food as cheap a it gets, and my supps are my only real but it never changes i was doing it before this slump and will keep doing it till i am dead probably but i hope this slump means less competition this year hahaha, jk

 

[RexHead]

One way this economy is effecting me is we have let go a lot of people from the company and now all of us "need to step up". So I'm working more hours and that means less time for diet, exercise, and mental health. I can't work to f' off because there aren't any jobs out there.

My wife and I evaluated our spending and we decided we spend too much money on junk. I wish I would have learned this lesson 20 years ago. I'd be retired. I don't need cable because I live in a major city with plenty of over the air channels. I don't need to eat out and I have plenty of clothes.

Something positive came out of this. I started eating more foods instead of shakes, supplements, etc and I have grown more then I ever did before.

 

[Jarconis]

I hate to say it, but I am actually making more money in this economy because I am in Liquor Sales.

 

[hawkmoon]

Still here...

So far I still have a good job here in Tokyo.
not a day passes by however that I don't realize how lucky I was to sell my house before moving here from the States(10/07). I am a saver however and have always been one (much to my wife's dismay) and I save more now than ever.

Japan is FAR from stable right now, but they are slower to move (up or down), so there is some artificial stability. One thing I have noticed is that a few of our regular lunch places have closed down and many others have changed to more affordable menus. The local Mickey D's is far more crowded these days.

 

[Wynn]

Now that the recession has gone on this long, I look at what I used to do and compare it to what I do now. I see myself more conscious of waste. I don't buy something when I know I can go somewhere else to pay less.

I was in Philly today and noticed my gasoline was getting low. I considered topping off the tank before the drive home but didn't when I saw the prices in the area. The stations there wanted $2.80 a gallon for regular. When I got to the gas station about a mile from home it was $2.60 (rounding up).

 

[stupidman]

mabe this is bold,but i made 10000 with wynn resort stocks.

 

[DrivingForward]

I've definitely changed how I live.

Before the crash... I was making so much money, that I couldn't spend it fast enough. Cars, Clubs, Vacations, Women.... Miami was waay out of control until about late 2007.

Now I'm spending an hour trying to find a bag of protein for $3.00 cheaper...

Times they are a'changin'

 

[Michaelthomasj]

How has the economy effected my life? Well...after i sold my business a few years ago...i worked for a company. I was let go after a couple years from a six figure salary. It affected me mentally the most. I was out of work for about 8 months, and my mortgage didnt stop coming. Thank God..i have been working. It did not help for those 8 months i wasnt working, that i was ill, and i also had a torn pec. Things are better now, and I no longer am ill, and my chest has healed. I am currently selling my home, and will go back to school to learn a new trade. I have to keep moving forward.

 

[Rolex]

Economy hasnt affected my life. Its the same as it was 5 years ago, except that I have more money saved now. Ive been one of the lucky ones, that have been blessed with lots of work.