I posted this at Slate.com
To use my personal example. I have a paid for house in a stable neighborhood, no real debt and solid government pension. I am now trying to cut back spending and save money. Though I am pretty well "set". I used to do some "gopher" work for people with my pickup trucks. Not much more than "beer money. This post retirement work has dropped to almost nothing. Everyone I did this for knows someone out of work so they play "gopher" now. They need the money more than I do. Thus, fewer miles on my pickups so less repair. When gas was $4 per gallon I go "gopher" work from remodelers because my Ford Ranger has a four cylinder standard transmission so it got excellent gas mileage. Sometimes half the fuel cost per mile of the usually larger, often diesel pickups. This has basically ended. The Ford Ranger just went off warranty. It hasn't needed any repairs but I know people not working who will do maintainance on it. My heavy towing 4x4 pickup is a 1993 with 180K miles so that needs some TLC. After $4 gas it doesn't get used a lot so fewer repairs. For parts for this and other older vehicles we scour Craigslist and make up a list for runs out the Pull it yourself car parts yard. It's a fifty mile round trip to the self pull yard so people with more time than money appreciate some extra "gas money". An odd one was my Minnesota winter furnace breakdown. Fortunately this occurred during a warm spell this winter so I got a service call on my eight year old furnace during work hours at a cost of $260. I was told this was a fair "retail" price but since then I have developed a pretty good list of people who know someone who will do the repair for less. The young repair guy told me that he bought a house last year which is now a bit "upside down". The company is an established urban one but since natural gas dropped the replacement furnace demand is lower. Also, a lot of more "suburban" HVAC companies relied on new construction so they are trying to "horn in". Also, I see a number of my long time acquaintances facing potential financial problems. Again they have more time than money and they accurately note that me owning my http://searshouse.com has taken a toll. A year or two back I couldn't find people to do this work. Now I have to conserve money and ration out this work. I keep thinking of the Depression era movies where the "hobo" seeks "honest work for honest money" The problem is that we don't know where the "bottom" of this is going to be so I am cutting back on spending though I am secure as almost anyone. My paid for house went down only 5%, the neighborhood is good and I had everything in secure fixed so only my interest income is down a bit. I would exaggerate if I claimed I hit a financial "speed bump" with the financial downturn. Still I am hunkering down and trying to save money. Mostly for my friends who will need the money and are now willing to work for it. I needed a fresh post at my blog http://65y.com so I will take the liberty of also posting it there.
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