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Q: Has this "recession" caused you to stop going out?

it provides a good cover story for those under house arrest though. "can't go out. damn recession you know". ;)
 
I actually think this 'recession' is excellent... my mortgage rate is ridiculously low.... gas is cheap.... hell everything is cheap (have you taken a walk through the malls lately? sales everywhere!).. and shorting the markets has been easy money.

Not to mention it's much easier to get hotel rooms... reservations at popular restaurants.... etc etc.

All the while I get my regular yearly pay raise and cost of living increase.... which is ironic considering my cost of living seems to be going down.

I actually can't think of a single negative. Of course this is only from my limited perspective...

overall though... good times!
 
gei said:
I actually think this 'recession' is excellent... my mortgage rate is ridiculously low.... gas is cheap.... hell everything is cheap (have you taken a walk through the malls lately? sales everywhere!).. and shorting the markets has been easy money.

Not to mention it's much easier to get hotel rooms... reservations at popular restaurants.... etc etc.

All the while I get my regular yearly pay raise and cost of living increase.... which is ironic considering my cost of living seems to be going down.

I actually can't think of a single negative. Of course this is only from my limited perspective...

overall though... good times!
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Like the old (cruel) saying goes.......a recession is when your neighbours lose their jobs....a depression is when you lose your job!
 
I'm not going out nearly as much as last year, but that's nothing to do with money/recessions issues. I'm actually making more than I did a year ago. Working a regular weekday job is what's preventing me from going out and partying 5 days a week. Love those weekends now, though!
 
If anything recessions usually mean a boon for bar & club culture. It tends to get more creative (less focus on the ruinous (to club culture) bottle service and designer clothing and boring VIP shit and more on creativity in dress, theme and music) and with so many more unemployed people more people are willing to step out on a Sunday or Thursday night. And those same people tend to find more creative ways to make a living as well.

Think New York during the late 70s & early 80s and early 90s (if anything ruined club culture in NYC it was renewed prosperity and catering to Wall St./SATC types), Berlin (anytime post war and now), even Montreal developed pretty nice nightlife because it suffered economically for so many decades following the 70s. Even Toronto int he early 90s had a really great rave scene which was soon crushed by the nanny's hand (and meth), but it did exist and was pretty great for awhile. When you're poor, you have only a couple options, stay home and wait for the cable to be shut off, or pool your EI and welfare and go out and have some fun.
 
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OttoSchloss said:
Think New York during the late 70s & early 80s and early 90s (if anything ruined club culture in NYC it was renewed prosperity and catering to Wall St./SATC types), Berlin (anytime post war and now), even Montreal developed pretty nice nightlife because it suffered economically for so many decades following the 70s. Even Toronto int he early 90s had a really great rave scene which was soon crushed by the nanny's hand (and meth), but it did exist and was pretty great for awhile. When you're poor, you have only a couple options, stay home and wait for the cable to be shut off, or pool your EI and welfare and go out and have some fun.
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Well said, and I totally agree.
 
Going out waaaaay more...

I recently took a buyout :p what better way to spend the days than sleeping off hangovers? My only complaint is that it's not Summer.

Work is so 2008.
 
That is a difficult question for me to answer - I have cut back dramatically - but not sure it was the recession. If I do go out, I don't cut back the average bill, if I am going out I want to order what I feel like regardless of price.... but I am rarely eating out these days.... but it started more in just controlling what I eat (if I cook it I know exactly what is in it and how much). It was more a change in diet and exercise that is driving that though. I have a goal of losing a total of 45kg from my peak weight - still just over 18kg more to go :rolleyes:

Have I changed my habits, yes - I don't go to Starbucks anymore these days - I have been very lazy the previous year. It just does not make much sense to go to Starbucks on the way to work and order a $4 latte, when I have a rather expensive and comparable espresso machine at home. I just needed to get up a little earlier - and have it at home before I left ($0.35 - $0.40 cents of milk, and maybe at most $0.50 of coffee [green beans roasted at home]).

I find myself shopping a little more frugally, i.e. when I see a good sale I buy in large quantities (that make sense - e.g. washing machine soap - I bought 4 bottles when it was heavily discounted). I am not buying any toys this year (i.e. electronics - my typical budget has been $5,000/year on toys :rolleyes:).
 
cacruden said:
It was more a change in diet and exercise that is driving that though. I have a goal of losing a total of 45kg from my peak weight - still just over 18kg more to go
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That's awesome! And still 9 weeks to go before summer!
 
I stay close to home in the winter, but come spring I don't plan on cutting back. But then I spend a good deal of my time enjoying all the free (or cheap) things that there are to do and see. Add to that, my feet or my bike get me to where I want to go just as cheaply.
 
TOareaFan said:
One of the keys to getting out of the recession is convincing the 90% who don't lose their jobs (assuming we started at 5% unemployed and that grows to 10% - which is a very pessimistic outlook) that they do not need to act like the 5% who do lose their jobs.

If everyone acts like they have been made redundant....it will become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy!
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I actually believe that this attitude was one of the main contributors to the current recession. Both individuals and banks were too confident in their current financial situations, and as a result individuals believed that they could afford things that they ultimately couldn't, and banks kept on extending more and more credit. This is also a self fulfilling prophecy, and it ended up causing the economy to crash.

We will only get out of this recession once people start acting responsibly again. A recession would have probably happened anyway because the economy is cyclical, but this one was different because irresponsible behaviour on everyone's part meant that within 2 weeks of losing their job, people went broke and had to default on their mortgages. That has really never been the case before.

For those people that do still have jobs, the best thing you can do is protect yourself by making sure that you have a few month's emergency fund. You're helping out the economy more by cutting back your current spending by 10% even though you don't have to, than by 100% once you lose your job because you're broke.

Edit: And for those of you that have been responsible to begin with, take advantage of everyone else's mistakes and all these sale prices, and go on a spending spree!
 
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