Holiday Recession

What does recession look like?

A clean and neat, well ordered Christmas aisle at your favorite store.


Wandering through my local Target (which I do not buy Christmas presents at since they banned the Salvation Army) I noticed that the holiday aisles were all in order and barely looked touched. I remember in years past how frazzled everything usually is - card boxes thrown about, different kinds of paper mixed in with each other, mixed up Christmas ornaments, items randomly strewn about. That is not the case now, at least not yet.

While I would say in my area there haven't been many visible signs of recession, I wonder if this is a small indicator.

I did however encounter something more blatant during this trip. While purchasing my $1.50 combo of popcorn and a medium pop at the concession area, the older lady in front of me commented that her usual combo (hot dog and drink) that sold for $2.00 had gone up. It had gone up $.50. I'm not a math wiz, but that seems like a huge increase for a $2.00 menu item. She took it in stride and pulled out more change. But if this was a regular adventure, I wonder if she will have to cut down how often she buys?

I am still unemployed and the numbers out today are not encouraging. How long will it take for all this to trickle down, even in more affluent areas. I hope 6 months is correct and it's not more like three.

What do you see? Is it hitting you where you live? Please leave comments if you are interested.

Things keep moving

As you can see in the news today, the GDP is on its way down. Once more quarter of decline and we will officially be in recession. However, I think most us know that it seems pretty plausible at this point.

Gas has been varying widely here. From $1.99/gal across the state line, up to $2.15/gal the same day and now resting at $2.08/gal - depending on the station. Rumor has it that people are still restricting their driving even with a little bit of ease at the pump. Probably just saving up to buy food.

I went to my first job club meeting and it was interesting. The bad news is that most people are looking for work for over 6 months before they find a viable position. Many of the people in the group have already taken part time jobs to try and fill the gap while continuing to look in their field. Last I knew, that tended to hurt one's ability to be taken seriously in the search process but maybe that is changing. The word at my church club is "unexpected" all the way around. People that felt they were pretty secure, no longer are. It's not a fun time in the job market.
Please feel free to share your job (loss) experiences.

I'll be out of pocket over the weekend, but will catch up with you on Monday.

To Recede

What does it mean "to recede" in our time? Well, this will be my record of what the recession looks like for me.

I have already been downsized and am trying to find a new job, in marketing. I am the bread winner while my husband attends graduate school. Needless to say, this was very unexpected and at moments leads to extreme discouragement.

Gas prices have gone down some, which is helpful, but probably only temporary. I am not foolish enough to believe that food prices and other products will go down as well. That is not the reality of our times.

I have never been much of stock watcher, but the numbers of late have a tendancy to make me lose my lunch and/or keep me up during the night.

I am actually starting a job club at my church to help others in my position. I will be interested to see how many attend. I will let you know.

So, that is where we start. I will let you know how things progress as we all recede.