After homeschooling my five children for 24 years, I find that the older babyboomers are not retiring so I can resume my teaching career! The unstable economy is a huge reason.

This ties in so much, for me, to yesterday’s QOTD about intuition!! Last Fall I had the gnawing feeling that it was time to move from my apartment, where I’d been living for 13+ years. There were a lot of factors: increased crime in the neighborhood, poor maintenance response by the rental office, and my hatred of commuting (although my commute was short). I got this urge to check out the area close to my work, and lo and behold - I discovered a tiny apartment complex just across the street!! At first I didn’t want to move there, since it meant going from a spacious 1-bedroom to a tiny efficiency, but I decided to take the plunge. Several friends told me I was foolish. But - now I’m getting the last laugh. My commute is 2 minutes - I literally walk across the street; haven’t added to my car’s gas tank since early January. Lower utility bills, no parking fees. I am SO grateful, and I am not feeling smug at all because I can see a lot of people suffering. It’s especially noteworthy to talk to my co-workers who are paying literally hundreds of dollars a month in gas for their cars. Many of them were somewhat oblivious until recently that they were stuck with those costs. Food is skyrocketing, jobs are precarious, cities and counties and states want to keep adding more taxes to make up for lost revenue and eroding infrastructure. I am so grateful for what I have.

Everyone I know is talking about cutting back. Friends are leaving their jobs in my facility to work closer to home. I work in the medical field.

The media and all the negativity is talking us into a recession. The slow down is here…let’s hope it is short. Be sure to have an emergency fund of at least 6 months worth of living expenses. Then when the stock market goes down as it has you can be one of the smart cookies who can patiently wait for the upturn. What goes down will eventually go back up. Go to the public library and read all of Suze Orman’s books and follow Bob Brinker on the internet. Bob has called all of the downturns and upturns in the market the last 20 years. On Saturday he suggested that we would have an all time historic high in the market by 2009. Yes!!!

I am a stained glass artist in Tucson. I have noticed a decrease in sales and custom commissions. Being an artist is what I am passionate about, so I believe it’s all going to work out in the end. In the mean time I work on building an inventory.

Thanks women of wowowow for backing this website. It is great. Somewhere to go that is more about issues that relate to me. I love it. Love to read the comments and the wonderful and varied experience that is expressed. I am so impressed by the women on this site. Thanks to all. I am learning even more ways of cutting back. Yes it is true - looks like the recession is here. Don’t know what else you would call it. I do know that any time that groups of women have been challenged to face adversity - they do it, and come out pretty good. So what are we going to do about this? How much effect will it have to write our congress? I was hoping when the Democrats took the majority, they would begin to deal with corporate greed. What happened? Are they are too dependent on lobbyists? How do we change that? Push for laws that members of congress cannot take money, trips, gifts, tips, drinks - or anything else from a lobbyist? They can only meet during office hours in the offices, like the rest of us citizens (who by the way, rarely get to do that). Times like this always force change. It is time for Washington to grow up. Hey look at the young men and women overseas ( and my son is one of them) They do so much growing up in a short period of time - much more than their civilian peers. If they can do it - Washington can.

My 78 yr old mother and I schedule our doctors appts together so we don’t have to drive there twice. On the other hand, we car pool to the casino so we don’t go there twice!

I see stores having sale after sale, and few seem to be buy. I find myself cooking more at home and searching the newspaper ads for the best prices on food. I also ask myself do I really need this more and more.

In Alaska it is mixed signals. Many young teens are still driving their cars hard on the road before and after school. Men are still trailering large snowmachines on fancy special equipment out to the mountains behind giant 4x4 trucks. Families are driving their motor homes out for the Arctic Man event- 10,000 people expected to show up 150 miles out of town up on a remote Mountain top to roar these snowmachines around for the week. On the other hand I attended a clothes swap last month- 20-30 profesional women and there daughters attended. The appetite for 3rd hand St John’s Basic Knit was palpable. I get St John Knit from friends + family 2nd hand, use it and pass it along to others. This is the first time I’ve seen the basics scooped up with in 1-2 minutes. In this Batch of St John’s Knit was a pristine royal purple evening outfit with the signature giant buttons- one person hesitantly tried it on, put it back. People would pick it up- contemplate and put it down. Two years ago it was the opposite. People touched and left the Basic stuff, while scooping up formal evening stuff. I think lady’s in Alaska are building a wardrobe to match a tightening of the belt.

My youngest son started a new job about three weeks ago. He sent out resumes and went to several interviews. He tells me this is the first time he’s ever had to do more than pick up the phone and let his acquaintences in the construction industry know that he was availble. It’s costing him an average of $40 daily to commute to job sites.

My first post…Saw your interview on Charlie Rose. How exciting! As a former (retired) Commodity Analyst and Floor Trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the signs were there for a couple of year. First we had historic low interest rates which meant a falling U.S. Dollar. Then we had rising Oil costs, plus extreme housing rising values. And even though the Government kept telling us how great everything is - “look at the Dow Jones”. The real evidence was there all the time in that the S & P took almost 7 years go get to where it had been back in January 2001. Is Suzie Ormon (sp?) part of your group? She is a smart lady and better than most of the cutsie little ladies on MSNBC, CNN etc. who provide Financial News. I think PBS has the best program NIGHTLY BUSINESS NEWS and it’s only 1/2 hour. Off to read the other stories here on wowOwow. I’m impressed.

I was given the pink slip on April 1, 2008 after 20 years working for a small company. My job will cease to exist on May 30, 2008.

Knowledgeable people say, “when you wonder if we are in a recession, we already are”. I rent a beautiful condo in downtown Sarasota, FL, because the owner can’t sell it. There are over 500 unsold condos in downtown Sarasota. My partner and I own real estate and stock market equities which have plunged. We have canceled two trips which were standard activities two years ago. When we reach the Medicare drug donut hole, we buy drugs at WalMart and from Canada. Pete Peterson said on Charlie Rose not long ago that continuing the present course, we will look like a developing country in ten years!