Selfsufficientish.com

It's just been on the radio that we have been in a recession for almost a year. OH looked at me bemusedly and asked "have we?" I guess WE haven't - we haven't been affected by the same sort of money problems that many others have been simply because of our lifestyle. We have everything we need and more. So I was wondering, how has the recession affected other ishers? Adversely or has it completely by passed you too?

Here in New Zealand the recession has given large manufacturers the excuse to pull out and move to china for cheep labour, so we have lost a lot of jobs, even out phone company has shifted its call centre to india.

For me this has mean;t no jobs which gave me the motivation to become as sufficient as poss and try creating a small business of my own, but costs have gone up so next year I;m applying for a caretakers position at the local school

Luckily, it's pretty much passed us by too Milims.

We drew in our breaths when it started, fearful that OH's business might go under - there were no signs of it but as a new company it had to be at risk. But touch wood it seems to be going from strength to strength (have we got a fingers crossed smiley? ).

The last company he worked for though went to the wall about a year ago. The same old problem of a business expanding too quickly financed largely on credit - the banks pulled the plug. They still owe us a lot of money, OH was a partner in one of the businesses they bought out. Chances of us seeing any of it are remote but we may get a surprise one day

Our income has dropped by two-thirds but weirdly we don't seem any less well off than before. Of course we don't go on any senseless shopping trips any more but I don't miss them at all.

And my business will always be a small income thing, we knew that from the start, but it has helped pay for some of the ongoing renovations, and will give us a little nest egg/ rainy day fund when all the building works have finished.

I think hg, that you have absolutely the right attitude. We've had similar threads on here before and the Ish way seems to be to see redundancy/ poor job market as an opportunity. We are a fantastic bunch

I am confused by this too ... we are doing fine but like other ishers we are not greedy and wastful... also if we are in a recession why are folks spending zillions of pounds???? on crap.

It's passed us by this time because we have everything we need, including space to grow food and decent stuff in the kitchen to allow us to cook well. It's been totally different to how it was for us back in the early 90s. Back then we were just starting out - old single tub washing machine with electric mangle, 2nd-hand carpets that didn't reach the walls, blankets trapped in the top windows to act like curtains, a piece of string nailed across the wall instead of a wardrobe, just enough food to stop our stomachs rumbling but not enough to satisfy us or keep us healthy. Our cookware was simply a set of pans, frying pan and an oven tray. And I didn't have a clue what I was doing in the kitchen.

So I think that this recession has been easier for us because
1) we have a garden and allotment,
2) we have all the furniture we need,
3) we have all the cookware needed to make good meals,
4) we are older, wiser, and have more knowledge about how to look after ourselves, our money and our health.

I do worry about other people who might now be in the same situation that we were in back then. I don't actually KNOW anyone like that, but if I did I would be helping them out all I can.

We have escaped it as well, but like most people on here, we were being thrifty before the reccession.

Other than prices going up in France as they always do, and practically zero interest on our savings in the UK (though surprisingly we now get better interest rates in France than we have for years), as it hasn't affected my husband's clients it hasn't affected us at all.

But we went through all the OH getting fired just after buying a house with a huge mortgage and no job prospects whatsoever due to it being just after 9/11. So we've been there done that and the OH had already done the negative equity thing last time around so we've got the T-shirts.

So we are finally coming out of our own personal 'recession' with a few bob to spare for the first time in years! Being frugal because you've got to, rather than it being a personal choice, stinks, in my opinion.

i think i was damn lucky choosing to come to uni when i did as now i have more money than i ever did when i was working ( i seem to be the only one here who has not fallen foul of the student finances cock up!) and plus i dont need to worry about finding work later as my course is "career garaunteed" at the end

the recession was supposed to be pretty bad over here, in sweden, but i didnt really notice it.

the banks were bailed out. and with that the recession kind of stopped.

now, slowly, companies are hiring staff again and the shops are v v v busy!

Apart from it being on the news just about every day, we haven't noticed it one little bit. We don't stint ourselves, but we've always spent carefully. We grow a lot of things we need - not all, but enough. The car has been in minimal use for a couple of years now. I make all the wine I can drink, and then some.

The dog's noticed that his pigs' ears have gone up, but that's about all we've seen.

Ishness, then, looks like it's future-proof. Good Stuff!

Mike

I must admit jane and i haven't really noticed either, with the allotment feeding us the hedgerows and woods supplying wine, beer and puddings ect we live pretty well, but friends who are not "ish like" have struggled that says alot for the ish lifestyle dosen't it.

not really - I was made redundant (early retirement they called it so get a monthly pension) a year ago and the dragon was made redundant last month. We're living on considerably less than what we were on a year ago and we're both looking for jobs.
(and no there aren't any)
But we have all the tools in the house for cooking/gardening etc, plenty of clothes/bedding etc and don't feel the need to throw and buy, we have a small garden and don't have an allotment, but grow whatever we can and shop frugally
A good thing about recession was the interest only mortgage went down by about the same percentage as the pay

old tree man wrote:friends who are not "ish like" have struggled that says alot for the ish lifestyle dosen't it.

It certainly does! I thought that it would be the case that we ishers wouldn't really feel the pinch!
I've recently done some consumer surveys that ask questions like:
Has the current economic climate had an effect on the amount of times you eat out?
er... nope - we only do it about once a year anyway!
Has the current economic climate had an effect on the amount of times you go on holiday?
er.... nope - why would I want to when I can have lots of fun at home!
Has the current economic climate had an effect on the amount of times you buy magazines?
er... nope I subscribe to Olive and Gardeners world - I don't read the other crap and if I want to know anything else I look it up on line or ask someone on ish!
Has the current economic climate had an effect on the amount of groceries you buy?
Nope - I still buy locally produced food delivered to my door and avoid supermarkets as much as I can so I don't fill my trolley with unnecessary carp!
Has the current economic climate had an effect on the how happy and satisfied you are with your life?
er.....nope - guess why!
Do you feel smug and self satisfied when you hear about those people who thought you were scummy struggling to make ends meet?
Moi?
(Ok so they didn't really ask that one! )
So according to these questions I'm either a millionnaire or simply ishy - I'll let you take your pick!

Workwise, we have felt the recession in that OH works for a very small marketing company who are really finding it hard ATM. He is the only one in his department who has been there long enough to qualify for redundancy pay (the company are not good at keeping staff); so the company seem to be trying to find ways to sack him - by blaming him for errors that aren't really his fault, etc. We've fought every disciplinary hearing with the help of ACAS, and they half-heartedly extend his warning period; but it seems obvious that they don't want to pay him anymore, they want to sack him not make him redundant so they won't need to pay him, and they can get the two new 20 year olds to do his job (aye, right), for £6k a year less than they are paying him. So we have been through a very stressful time of it recently (which is why I haven't been around much), there is no sense of security at all. We're on well below the average wage, we're struggling as it is, even being as ish as we can be. We have a rented house, so there is only so much we can do with that; we have a tiny garden (but next year we have a raised bed in the community garden, and use of the polytunnels, whay-hay!); our money basically goes on bills, and food. No luxuries in this house. We couldn't be squeezed much tighter, to be honest. But, on the whole, we are still very contented, and that's what matters.

The scary thing is that most people won't learn from a recession, as as there is money again they all go off on Hire Purchase spending sprees or chuck it on the card and all for stuff they don't really need and in some cases want, they're just keeping up with the jones.

Bigger flatscreens larger cars, extra rooms they don't need, spoiling their kids with crap instead of teaching them good old-fashioned values and coomon sense (Ish-logic)