Has this downturn haunted your lifestyle yet? If so please explain and give examples of how you deal with it - might help other people who face similar situations.

I've stopped going out as much. I'd normally go out twice a week, usually food one night and pints another. Now I do one or the other.

And I've started saving. I've managed to reach 5 figures in the last 10-12 months.

(please note: the savings are not a direct relationship to the amount previously spent on alcohol and food)

I have to say my lifestyle really hasn't changed at all. But then again I'm a student who is still bankrolled by my parents and I spend so much time studying indoors I don't even notice the weather changing. That said, my allowance hasn't changed since 2004 so I have been on a long pay freezer .

Lot's of stress and tension about the house though as the parents adjust to the new environment which includes a reduction of income as well as the unenviable task of laying off employees who can no longer be afforded. All this while pensions collapse and retirement is no longer something to be planned for but a distant dream.

Yes, was made redundant today - not a surprise, I was very quite for months. Unemployment and all it entails beckons.

Before that it was obvious there was going to be a cull in the office since about november so I've been spending less and saving more since about then. I suppose the single biggest thing was eating out - I went from eating in restaurants for the majority of my meals to cooking and even bring a lunch to work, like a compete prole.

shutuplaura wrote:

Yes, was made redundant today - not a surprise, I was very quite for months. Unemployment and all it entails beckons.

Before that it was obvious there was going to be a cull in the office since about november so I've been spending less and saving more since about then. I suppose the single biggest thing was eating out - I went from eating in restaurants for the majority of my meals to cooking and even bring a lunch to work, like a compete prole.

Very sorry to hear that. Good luck with the search for work.

Good luck shutuplaura. Hope you find something that suits you well. I guess you are still better off looking where you are than would be the case here.

Will you keep at the same business or look for a change?

Sorry to hear Shutuplaura.

That is rough shutuplaura. I hope you get something else.

JF - are the doctors earnings reduced through less people using their services?

Depends very much on where you practice. If your practice is in an area which is heavily reliant on private patients you would see a significant decrease in income, but then again your income was probably always higher. My Mother's practice is in a deprived area so the vast majority of their patients will always be entitled to Medical Cards. With the new set up of Medical Cards they may actually receive a little more in income, but it will be reinvested straight back into the surgery to try and provide the bare minimum of nursing and other ancilliary services which are seriously difficult for most surgeries to provide.

cactus flower wrote:

Good luck shutuplaura. Hope you find something that suits you well. I guess you are still better off looking where you are than would be the case here.

Will you keep at the same business or look for a change?

Thanks for that everyone.

I honestly don't know. I was thinking of a changer of career. I'm, in stockbroking which has to be the least rewarding profession in the planet and I've always had the intention of starting back at something more socially useful. The thing is, nows not really the time to go looking at alternatives because the job market is shrinking so much - even here. The PM, Kevin Rudd, in an act of pure desperation has resorted to giving every taxpayer back 950 dollars and has asked that we all basically go out and spend it and not put it aside for a rainy day. Thats exactly what everyone I know here is going to do though because its obvious even australia isn't immune to this recession, just a few months behind the curve.

So really, I dunno, thinking of heading to in May India for a few months with my redundancy package, then perhaps slowly make my way back to ireland. Short term, I'll give temping a bash for a few months.

I'll spend the rest of the summer relaxing and trying to make my mind up.

Uugh, that sucks shutuplaura. But you're obvioulsy not adverse to travel so perhaps you'll find something to do somewhere else. here's top hoping anyway!

Cheers Cookiemonster!

shutuplaura wrote:

Cheers Cookiemonster!

The Persian Gulf states are always looking for financial people.

shutuplaura wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Good luck shutuplaura. Hope you find something that suits you well. I guess you are still better off looking where you are than would be the case here.

Will you keep at the same business or look for a change?

Thanks for that everyone.

I honestly don't know. I was thinking of a changer of career. I'm, in stockbroking which has to be the least rewarding profession in the planet and I've always had the intention of starting back at something more socially useful. The thing is, nows not really the time to go looking at alternatives because the job market is shrinking so much - even here. The PM, Kevin Rudd, in an act of pure desperation has resorted to giving every taxpayer back 950 dollars and has asked that we all basically go out and spend it and not put it aside for a rainy day. Thats exactly what everyone I know here is going to do though because its obvious even australia isn't immune to this recession, just a few months behind the curve.

So really, I dunno, thinking of heading to in May India for a few months with my redundancy package, then perhaps slowly make my way back to ireland. Short term, I'll give temping a bash for a few months.

I'll spend the rest of the summer relaxing and trying to make my mind up.

India sounds great. I envy you being able to travel. It sounds like a place that is able to look forward too - the most optimistic thing said at Davos was by someone from India -the micro credit guy - something about this being a big opportunity for change.

cookiemonster wrote:

shutuplaura wrote:

Cheers Cookiemonster!

The Persian Gulf states are always looking for financial people.

Not a great place to work though. The father of one of my friends was a banker in Bahrain throughout my school years. Went to visit them once... they couldn't wait to get home.

If you're interested in micro financing you should look here http://www.kiva.org/
I've invested a few hundred at this stage and it's really great.

shutuplaura - don't feel bad, you are finally liberated again from the tedium and toil of daily spending your sweat for some other son of a bitch who you could work for for forty years and then when you are all used up they tell you to fuck off.

Better to fuck off now while they still have left you with most of your major organs, those bloodsuckers.

There are tons of farming jobs in Oz - I'd recommend pruning trees in Stanthorpe but you can probably do that around where you live. Aren't the Aussies trying to manually rebuild the ecosystem they've knackered? Plenty of jobs shooting rabbits, rounding up feral cats, mate and trying to undo the damage done by some lunatic of a frog which was introduced by the British to kill some other parasite that went berserkk 5 years before which they had introduced originally in an attempt to clean up some irksome local pest because they couldn't plant as much cotton as they wanted.

Come back home soon for the Revolution - we need all the hands we can get to build the gallows and guillotines on the scale required for the coming Purge.

johnfás wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

shutuplaura wrote:

Cheers Cookiemonster!

The Persian Gulf states are always looking for financial people.

Not a great place to work though. The father of one of my friends was a banker in Bahrain throughout my school years. Went to visit them once... they couldn't wait to get home.

I know a number of people working in Qatar, UAE, Oman and Saudi and they all love it apart from Saudi Arabia. I've spent some time there and it really is an odd place but I've spent a lot of time travelling in the rest and they're great. I had interviewed for a job in Kuwait myself but untimately didn't take it, I'm kicking myself now.

Auditor #9 wrote:

shutuplaura - don't feel bad, you are finally liberated again from the tedium and toil of daily spending your sweat for some other son of a bitch who you could work for for forty years and then when you are all used up they tell you to fuck off.

Better to fuck off now while they still have left you with most of your major organs, those bloodsuckers.

There are tons of farming jobs in Oz - I'd recommend pruning trees in Stanthorpe but you can probably do that around where you live. Aren't the Aussies trying to manually rebuild the ecosystem they've knackered? Plenty of jobs shooting rabbits, rounding up feral cats, mate and trying to undo the damage done by some lunatic of a frog which was introduced by the British to kill some other parasite that went berserkk 5 years before which they had introduced originally in an attempt to clean up some irksome local pest because they couldn't plant as much cotton as they wanted.

Come back home soon for the Revolution - we need all the hands we can get to build the gallows and guillotines on the scale required for the coming Purge.

Thats exactly how I'm looking at it. The only reason to be anyway disappointed is loosing the atmosphere of the office, the people ther were all great to work with. The redundancies will destory that anyway so I'm better out I think.

Yes, they are looking for people to go into the northern territories and hunt feral camel. The cane toads problem seems to be slowly sorting itself out though. As native wildlife seems to be adapting to the toads main defence - sac's of poison on trheir backs which kill any birds which try and pick them up. Aparently ecologists have noticed birds starting to flip them before eating them and thereby avoiding the poison.

Hmm, bloody revolution you say, Ireland really has changed!

The Cane Toad - that's the fella. Good to hear the birds have outwitted him. It's an amazingly delicate and fragile ecosystem there is Oz - everything all connected in a very thin layer of life that has evolved to make use of the limited resources that exist there. Have you heard of the "beard plant" or something ? It is a plant which hangs out of a tree but isn't connected to the tree and it is very delicate too - like a web or a veil. The most remarkable thing about that yoke is that it lives on light and air/moisture.

So the Aussie government gave out a little monetary package to ye did they as a way of getting the economy churning around again. I think the current Government here might have thought about doing that but then decided that they'd take all that money they were going to give out to everyone and instead hand it to Seán FitzPatrick and Co. because they are lads who have expertise in growing economies properly. The initial €3500 wasn't enough though so now they are actually asking everyone to contribute at least that again ....

If you come back here and find a job you will be working for Seán Fitzpatrick and Co.

I like the cane toads story. I think we might be able to learn something from that.
Hmm. Flip them over first...

shutuplaura wrote:

Aparently ecologists have noticed birds starting to flip them before eating them and thereby avoiding the poison.

smart birds, my faith in our feathered friends has been restored.

I saw a paticularly stupid pigeon being gored by the Luas the other day. How it didn't see, hear for feel it coming is beyond me. I though for a bird that stupid the world must have been a harsh and cruel place and he was better out if. But those Australian birds... sharp as tacks them!

Yes, I saw a pigeon being crushed by a bus tyre once. Crunchy. No cane toad flippers they thats for sure.

cookiemonster wrote:

If you're interested in micro financing you should look here http://www.kiva.org/
I've invested a few hundred at this stage and it's really great.

Looks interesting. Do you know how you can be sure the local lender isn't screwing the end user with very high interest?

shutuplaura wrote:

Yes, was made redundant today - not a surprise, I was very quite for months. Unemployment and all it entails beckons.

Before that it was obvious there was going to be a cull in the office since about november so I've been spending less and saving more since about then. I suppose the single biggest thing was eating out - I went from eating in restaurants for the majority of my meals to cooking and even bring a lunch to work, like a compete prole.

Morning shutuplaura,
Having read your other comments on this, I'm kind of glad to hear you've been made redundant for your own sake. It sounds like you've not been excited by your job (interesting to note that you'll miss the company but mentioned nothing else...) and have been itching for the excuse to do something else anyway. How long before you finish up?

There's a great book by Julia Cameron called The Artist's Way - and it's not just about artists, but a handbook for developing your creative side. There's something you love doing and now is your chance. Stockbrokers are naturally creative people, I imagine and resourceful too.

This could be the opportunity of a lifetime.