How good/bad/catastrophic has the recesion been for you personally? Have a moan.

In a very short summary, lost everything at about the same time things kicked off, business wasn't great/delays in getting paid/delays with property being built (a small firm who weren't big enough to cope with the delays).

So, business shut shop, had to sell possessions and other equipment to keep afloat as benefits were not enough, 5 months of not a lot (trying to get a job), resulting in depression again, then couldn't afford to mot/tax the car so that had to go, then my mtb broke (another story, not for here as it's currently being sorted under warranty) meaning no exercise other than walking.

Met a *Beautiful* woman at about the same time I knew happy tablets had done their thing I was coming off of them, got a job a short time later and while I am overjoyed at the change from the past few years I am in a similar situation to Practical Matt with very little disposable income. Beautiful woman is currently looking for lecturing work around the UK & Ireland.

A mate of mine also sold me a road bike which I managed to buy selling yet more things which allows me to get out on the bike while my muddy bike is still 'being sorted'.

Other than that, I'm in a job which pays (not a lot) but I am not hassled and he bought a van for me to use for which I am really grateful!

moan over 😉
jt 😉

My girlfriend got a bit worried when they made nearly 20% of her company redundant, they are now hiring about half of those people back so some people got a very nice well paid sabatical.

My company froze pay for 1 year but nothing drastic, it's R and D so a bit more long term planning/statergy than most jobs.

1 🙂

Made redundent in Feb 09
Horrible but well paid temporary job arrived in July 3 weeks before we were totally out of money.
Temporary but well paid job ends in 2 weeks so let's see what the future holds

Got laid off twice, only out of work for about 2 days each time though as work in IT so plenty of jobs for my skills. Been lucky in that respect. Not had any bonuses or pay rises though in while.
On a fixed mortgage so haven't benefited from interest rates yet. Due to re-mortgage in next couple of months, so got a decision about fixed or tracking our mortgage. Hopefully will be able to cut payments by a bit.
Things haven't been bad though, wife is preggers due in November so plenty to look forward to.

martinm116 – what part of the IT are you working in? It might be quite important to me shortly. Contract or Perm?

Christ! I feel even worse now 🙁

(smug warning!)
Im a definate 1:
Moved out of parents place and bought a flat
Moved in with my girlfiend
Payrises and bonuses at every review so far
Just bought a new car
Job I like (atm)
commute is just over an hour (train) which is ok
Bought a R2W road bike
Mayhem in a week!

If anyone is looking for a career in IT id recommend microsoft SQL server and business inteligence (and if your in that industry we want your CV!!)

Not entirely recession related;

This time last year – 7 (living with the worlds worst landlord)

untill october – 3 (new house, all going reasnobly)

After october – 1 (met the missus)

Spring – 3 (lots of arguments with missus, general stress about work/redundancies)

Now – 4.5 (moving in with the missus which is great, but work is making life hell, theres nothing to do, everyones leaving, not enough experience and golden handcuffs mean I can't get out just yet, and everytime work dangles a carrot in the form of something interesting its taken away or you get to hear from other sources the chances of it going ahead were slim to non existant anyway)

commute is just over an hour (train) which is ok

You were doing well until this point. 😉

Started appallingly for me – left a very well-paid and secure job in mid 2008, had to do contract jobs (well-paying but hugely unsatisfying) to keep things going, and there was a point when I genuinely despaired. Nothing coming in, plenty going out, the usual stuff. It took 18 months to get the right permanent role, but now that I’ve landed it I’m far better off than I’ve ever been.

Overall 1/10 for the outcome, but 7/10 for the journey.

1, I really expected to lose a lot of business, but people seem to be spending at least some of their redundancy ordering guitars off me.If anything, my orders have gone up by about 8/10 % so go figure.:)

what recession?

A year of two halves (I hope) I'm a sole trader and own business that's directly linked to the building trade and manufacturing.
Last year I lost tens of thousands due to businesses colapsing and was because of that close to bankrupcy so about as close as 1/10 as you can get.
Rather than go under I 're-jiged' my business and personal life. It was amazing at the ammount of rubbish we were paying for each year and it was easy to wipe off thousands of pounds.It's meant working very hard, but there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. An upturn is tantalisingly close for me that could make me far more better off than I ever have been? Add that to the thousands we've wiped off our yearly spend, ditching the extra cars and getting rid of the credit cards our position by the end of 2010 could be also as close to 10/10 as poss 😀

Let's just say I'm not gonna tempt fate by talking about it!

On 18th December 2008 i was made redundant from a position i had worked hard to achieve, spent 6 months unemployed with a wedding planned i now couldn't pay for (In-laws came to the rescue!). Got another job in July 2009 doing pretty much exactly the same thing, for a competitor of my previous employer but i quickly came to resent the job as it involved 2.5-3 hrs a day in driving to work and was costing me a bloddy fortune in diesel/running costs etc.

Trying to deal with 3 deaths in the first 3 months of this year was the final straw. After 10 months of the new job i left and am now looking at my options which means lots of bike rides and sitting in the sun!

Other than getting married, the last couple of years are some i would happily erase from my memory!

I downshifted about two weeks after the shit really started to hit the fan – I'd love to say that I'd predicted it all but I'd been planning it for a while and it was mostly luck.

I'll probably have to upshift in 1-2 years (we have "projects") but it's not very relevant to me at the moment – although in better times, I'd be picking up little side jobs etc.

Should be a 1 but I was a little unlucky with some exchange rates, so I'll say 1.5. But nothing to whine about.

1 or 2 – my wife causes me more financial problems than the recession has so far but things will get worse so who knows what will come?

what recession +1

ring-fenced public employee with part time snake-oil business which is turning over record amounts from sales to stressed out city types 😆

martinm116 – what part of the IT are you working in? It might be quite important to me shortly. Contract or Perm?

work as Perm, can't be arsed with contracting, loads of hassle with working under umbrella companies or getting an accountant etc.

Work in .Net dev so plenty of work around at the moment.

Shite for me. Made redundant from one job. Eventually got another now looks a bit worrying here as well. Companies we do business with keep going bust.

Also my savings pay **** all, but my mortgage was fixed when the rates were high (made the mistake of listening to a financial adviser 🙁 )

probably a 3 or 4 here.

Work for a corporate event company. We went bust on paper Dec '08, but got bought out at the last minute. Lost about 1/3 the staff, a lot of whom needed a boot up the jacksie anyway. I have a pretty specialist role and am the only one who can do my job, but I can turn my hand to quite a few other ones too so I was pretty safe.

It's been fairly hard work – especially October '09-> Feb '10 as we ended up doing a lot of freebie work in return for exposure/pr/marketing bollix, but nothing too OTT. I merely wanted to kill people rather than needing to torture them first AND piss on their bloody corpses afterwards. (12 years putting on parties for knobs with too much money can do some weird things to you)

I R IT contractor if anyone cares…

not hit me yet but just about to, working for the local government and they have just announced over 1 billion cuts in local government funding on top of the 5% efficiency saving we have to make each year for the next 3 years.

The recession is now for public workers

So if i am made redundant what should i retrain as?

1 – has not really affected me at all in fact I'd say I've seen more opportunities rather than downsides.

Lost my job July last year, couldn't get another so set up on my own. Had a car crash that wasn't my fault, insurance screwed me over dragging their feet before paying up – had no car for about three months, couldn't afford one. I was an electrician with no car. Let's say it's been a hard year.
Things kinda looking up but right now I'm a solid 8.23

Run my own business, end of 09 was a bit sticky, but eventually signed some more customers after mucho umming and ahhhing on their part, one of them recently told me that after our successful campaign for him, he wished he'd signed up months ago… 🙄

Other than that pretty much usual stuff really. 3 ish

Am a very small nursing cog in a very large NHS teaching hospital machine. Don't yet know whether jobs in acute/emergency admissions are going to be cut or, erm, "re-shaped" – but pressures on current services are ramping up fast (and we are already running at 100% capacity… 😕 ). We might have to start putting patients in bunk beds – possibly via some overpriced PFI scheme.

Am also a part-time MA student in something entirely unrelated – my leisure costs are very low. If I'm not riding my antique bike, I'm in the library. Exciting!

Overall, 5ish.

Mrs c was made redundant, got another job on about 1/3rd of the pay, Im self employed and Id say my business is down by about 30 or 40 per cent, so hit us pretty hard.

About a 4. Pay freeze, recrutiment freeze & promotion freeze has hit aspirations hard, cuts likely next. On the plus side I have a job and the mortgage has gone down so we're overpaying. Overall not too bad

Ex fiance left me in November 2008, hit me hard & i ended up on the happy pills after an abortive suicide attempt.
Met a wonderful lady who has been extremely supportive.
Made redundant from a 23yr job on my birthday, july 2009.
Large (by my standards) pay-off via Govt funds for bankrupt firms paid for new double glazing/boiler/shower/house painting & new bikes.
Found poorly paid agency work in March this yr but not too bad 'cos mortgage has dropped to an amazing £35 per week!

Just been told i'm being taken on permanently so we'll see what the pay structure is like.

Been a weird ride – at times it seemed i was pushing a 10, now i'd say i'm around a 3.

the last year has seen me made redundant as my employer relocated, luckily i found another job in a few weeks. Still looking as 30 miles each way is starting to pi$$ me off. Just been given notice as the landlord can't cover their mortgage. Other than that been a fine time.

Last year, something around at 10, this year probably a 4. There is a hell of a lot more to life than money though.

Got a contract in Glasgow in August, very poor pay but great experience. Best time of my life so far definitely a 1.

Contract ends on the last week of July, currently have nothing lined up to take its place. Have no savings and will probably have to move back in with parents down south or go to university leaving my friends and girlfriend in Glasgow – going to try and make things work long distance.

Best situation would be my current company offering me a full time position or extending my contract, or I find another job in Glasgow but I highly doubt this. Worst situation would mean I end up going to university miles away doing something I don't want to do.

I might just pack a bag and go travelling for a year, so currently looking at an 8.

9 😛

Got made redundant last October, set up on my own, should have done it years ago.

Very happy 😉

really not that bad. Got "crunched" last september, but found another job straight away – had to take a pay cut, but a copeable one – certainly could have been a lot worse. Am actually happier in new job, so it was the right outcome anyway.

sorry binners 🙁

Work in Telecoms and never been busier, company paid out 20% bonus to all staff last year and will do this year if we stay on track, so probably a 1.

I survived the last recession.
However this one has been easier as mr. bh has still been earning, while I haven't paid myself for 16 months, yet still carried on working (self employed).

Things as they say, can only get better.

Apparently my Boss can't travel first class anymore, which means I can't get free coffee if I travel with him. Boo fheckin hoo. On the upside chances of a redundancy pay-off are increasing.

Made redundant last may(2009) due to Co going into admin. and subsequently folded.
1 at that point. Didn't know where I'd go from there.

Done various temp work from then, ok from money side(able to 'make ends meet') but unsatisfactory from both a personal and professional angle.
3, money coming in but frustrated.

Just started my own business. Able to exploit the 'Current economic climate' so about 7.5 now…

"Rodney, this time next year we'll be millionaires"… 1! 😆