How are you holding up in this dicey economy?

[griz326]

I have noticed over the last few days that many businesses seem to be gouging spending customers because of the overall loss of customers; a few businesses even seem to be in the business of cheating.

 

Long question short: How are you holding up in this dicey economy? Does your wife understand American-style belt tightening?

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

Yesterday my car developed a real bad miss in it. I stopped at an old time service station to have it checked out. The mechanic looked at my car and a spark plug wire was lose on the fire wall side of the engine it took all of 5 minutes to diagnos and fix it. Charged me $70 for his efforts. I saw a sign in his reception area that said tune up 4 cyl starting at 49.99 and six cylinders starting at 69.99. I told him that I now wanted a complete 6 cyl tune for free. He said that was for most cars mines was different. BS. When you do to people like this crooked did it will come back one day to haunt him.

Caveat emptor: Let the buyer be aware.

Edited July 9, 2009 by Tony n Terrific (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Yesterday my car developed a real bad miss in it. I stopped at an old time service station to have it checked out. The mechanic looked at my car and a spark plug wire was lose on the fire wall side of the engine it took all of 5 minutes to diagnos and fix it. Charged me $70 for his efforts. I saw a sign in his reception area that said tune up 4 cyl starting at 49.99 and six cylinders starting at 69.99. I told him that I now wanted a complete 6 cyl tune for free. He said that was for most cars mines was different. BS. When you do to people like this crooked did it will come back one day to haunt him.

Caveat emptor: Let the buyer be aware.

I have had a great relationship with the Chevy dealer that sold me my S-10.

 

Last week I brought it to the dealer for it's annual DOT inspection, along with Oil Change, filter, lube, and tire-rotation. I did complain that on the drive to the dealer that it developed a skip. When I picked it up they told me that one tire had a nail in it, and they fixed it NO-Charge, and also commented that 2 tires did need to be replaced, they did not detected the skip, so advised me to check the wires.

 

Again it all depends on who you deal with.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

I have noticed over the last few days that many businesses seem to be gouging spending customers because of the overall loss of customers; a few businesses even seem to be in the business of cheating.

 

Long question short: How are you holding up in this dicey economy? Does your wife understand American-style belt tightening?

 

We are actually holding up quite well. Mostly because we reduced our expenses by moving to China. My wife understands that the American style of belt-tightening means to get a bigger belt.

[weiaijiayou]

We are actually holding up quite well. Mostly because we reduced our expenses by moving to China. My wife understands that the American style of belt-tightening means to get borrow a bigger belt.

Edited July 10, 2009 by weiaijiayou (see edit history)

[Scott@Hong]

I thought I was going to avoid most of the economic effects except for some losses on retirement accounts etc. That was until the other day company decides all our company cars have to go so they can reduce overhead costs, so now I have to buy car, pay for gas and insurance all of which I have not paid for in 15 years. Kinda sucks and I have not told my SO yet because our Wedding Ceremony is 9/16 and she is hot and heavy into planning and organizing, do not want to derail her drive at the moment.

 

If I can only afford half of the tux for wedding, which should I get?

[Daviation]

...My wife understands that the American style of belt-tightening means to get a bigger belt.

 

That's funny!!! And also sad, since it is quite true.

 

How are we holding up? Well, my wife understands belt tightening better than most of us... in fact she's all for the ground rules our country should be living by:

 

1/ Don't spend what you don't have.

 

2/ If you don't have the funds... live without whatever you don't have.

 

I'm a lucky guy... we have a good life even without the stuff we may not have.

[C4Racer]

Long question short: How are you holding up in this dicey economy? Does your wife understand American-style belt tightening?

 

The company I work for is holding up very well so far. They have always made a profit during tough times, while other companies in the same business have turned a loss. This is what laid the ground work for them to get us through the tough times we are facing now. So my job is quite stable, my wife is doing well in school and we are getting ready to bring her parents here to live with us. So we are doing okay. In fact we are contemplating a move to Seattle. It would be a good move for my wife's career, once she is out of school. Garrett would have more choices for International Schools with a Chinese Immersion Program. Parent's would be around a larger Chinese population. We would be closer to family as my sister lives in Port Orchard, WA. My work would be no problem as my company has a branch in Seattle. I have already told them I am interested in making the move.

 

Does my wife understand American style belt tightening? Please, you have got me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off!! Why? Because we decided early in our relationship to take the best part of each culture and incorporate it into our marriage. This means financially, we are Chinese!! No excessive spending, no loans of any kind except for big ticket items like house. So we are debt free except for the mortgage. We do have a school loan but it is at 0% and we have enough in the bank to pay it back. So is it really a loan? We do have credit cards, but they are frequent flyer reward cards. They get paid in full every month, so no balance, no interest charges. We only have them to gain the rewards. We have enough miles with Delta for two tickets to China. The Chinese style of finances is to not let it get out of hand to begin with and save whenever possible, so does my wife understand belt tightening? yes, much much better than any American ever could.

[timb]

My company just announced a company wide 5-10% salary cut. I have not seen my exact numbers yet, so I'm not sure my loss on take home pay yet, but I certainly will be implementing some belt tightening.

 

Have not decided if I should tell my lady friend yet, it's too early in the relationship me thinks.