What are you doing to prepare for a recession?

[fernweh]

I keep seeing doom and gloom predictions of another Great Recession. What if anything are you doing to prepare?

I currently make about 80% of our HH income. However I work in the auto industry so my job is very unstable if we do have a recession. I graduated in 2007 and it took me 8 years to find a non-retail job.

H works for a large grocery chain so his job is very stable and basically economy proof but his wages alone won’t cover our expenses.

We have an efund that used to be 6 months expenses but with increased expenses it probably closer to 4 months now. However we do have other savings we could pull from if we really needed too (travel savings, home improvement).

I plan to look at our budget and see where we can cut expenses (canceling memberships we rarely use etc) but we already live pretty lean I think. I also want to get out efund up to a current 6 months of expenses. I guess there isn’t really much more I can do besides that other than find a job in a safer industry but I don’t particularly want to leave my job so that won’t be happening unless it’s out of necessity.

I guess this is mostly a panic - I don’t want to spend any more of my life working a shitty job I hate just to make ends meet post…

[Roc A Bee]

Honestly not much yet. Our jobs are pretty stable. Bf is a tenured public school teacher and I work for a college in a non-tenured position, but I’ve been there 15 years- so pretty safe.

I do want to get my savings up to 9 months of my take home pay. I’m within $1-2,000 of that so doable.

We also have a lot we could cut if necessary- lots of tv subscriptions, eating out, coffees, housekeeper. But I hope we don’t get to that point.

[lemoncupcake]

We have a chunk of change saved that we intended to use for a significant house project and a new car. For now we are trying to stall on both of those things - partly to have the cash if needed, and partly to see if the costs will be lower in the near future than they are now.

[ellipses84]

After I was laid off a couple months into covid lockdown due to to fears about a recession impacting my industry, I started doing consulting and later took a part time job with an old firm. Juggling both was supposed to be temporary, a few months at most, but I’m going on 2 years with no end in sight. I guess that’s my recession plan since they are different focuses of my industry and the part time one typically stays busy during a recession (and wants me to quit consulting and go back to full time). Certain consulting projects will continue until next May no matter what happens. I feel like the recession fear is constantly looming in my industry and after surviving it so many times I’m not as fearful. We just keep doing all the things we can to be in the most MM place possible while living life and having a lot of setbacks. We’ve always managed to pay rent/ mortgage on time so we’d like to be in a position to buy again if home prices drop but IDK that they will much in my area. We are struggling with inflation though and there’s not really a method at either of my jobs to get a raise or many benefits. I guess I just need to renegotiate my contracts because what seemed like a lot 2 years ago isn’t feeling like a lot lately!

I’m the primary breadwinner. I think only a recession like ‘08 would impact DH’s industry. Covid didn’t hurt it as much as it could have and once strict lockdown ended they were busier than ever.

[heygrey]

Nothing specific right now. We have 6 months of expenses saved, but that would stretch quite a while with the help of employment insurance (Canada's unemployment).

We know what we can cut if we need to, including automated savings contributions.

More so because of inflation, but I've gone back to meal planning and budgeting groceries much more closely. We love cooking and during covid we bought whatever because if life sucks, at least there is food! This habit is very expensive now so I'm reigning it in. We can still have some fancy meals, but in between there is a lot more budget meals and using up leftovers.

[flygirl]

I absolutely think a recession is coming but I think it will be short lived, less than 6 months. That’s my plan..ha ha

ETA-I do have a 5 month EF so I’m almost there 

[chilerellanos]

I’m a single mom, but my job is pretty safe as an RN in a hospital, so hoping for the best.

[chpmnk1015]

Nothing drastically different.. trying to save a little more.. be more cognizant of spending and cutting where I can...

[sadlebred]

My job is pretty recession proof, but there are other factors at my company that could affect it in the next year. My goal starting in Sept. is to double down on saving. I'm also going to be cutting the budget by about 10% to help counter expenses that have gone up in the last 6 months. I'm already eating in more (great summer produce from the farmer's market helps) and trying to make do with what I have instead of buying more. Ex. Shopping my closet for an event instead of buying a new jumpsuit.

[quesyrah]

I’m trying not to worry. During Covid we survived a year long furlough and came out of it with some ideas of how to be better prepared for a financial crisis.

DH is our sole source of income because I homeschool our kids.

We massively increased our emergency fund and have done a good job of streamlining our expenses.

I’m not sure what else we could really do.

[moonpie]

Nothing really. Dh and I both work in an industry that is heavily impacted by the economy. But, we are also both eligible for severance packages, our expenses are low enough we could survive on one income, and we’ve been sitting on a lot of cash because of Covid. We also refinanced our mortgage last year when rates were really low.

[wildrice]

Nothing really - we do have an emergency fund that I'm not really planning to touch for anything else, so hopefully we'd be ok with short term unemployment. I don't really think either of our jobs are unstable, though who knows. Both of our employers have been short handed for months, so unless H's company was going out of business or something I can't see them laying him off, plus the clients that he works with are unlikely to be affected much. I work at a non-profit, but if anything a recession will probably bring in more clients so I don't really see us cutting jobs. Though my job is probably less important than many others there, so who knows - I probably would be high on the list of jobs to cut if that ended up being needed.

I just signed a contract to replace flooring in our house so I'm definitely still spending like nothing is happening! I am trying to be a little more mindful in general about day to day expenses, though, at least partly because of inflation and everything just costing more. We have a ton of fluff in our budget so realistically as long as one of us stays employed we would be fine for quite a while on one salary, unemployment, and our savings.

[midwestmama]

Not much yet, but trying to be more mindful of purchases/spending. (Although DH for some reason really wants me to get a new car right now because my car needs almost $4k in repairs/maintenance. If I were to get a new car, we'd pay cash for all or most of it. At this point, I think it's smarter to just have all the repairs/maintenance done on my car and hold off on considering a new car for me for another year or so, and have all the cash in the bank just in case.)

We've been getting take out quite often this summer, so my goal is to do better with meal planning and get less take out.

ETA:  My company's industry is consumer goods (non-essential products) and DH's company is in the health insurance industry.  Neither are recession-proof and we're both in middle management.  However, we've structured our lifestyle in such a way that we could both go back to senior-level individual contributor roles and be ok financially.  

[aprilsails]

My job is recession proof. My industry is screaming for more people right now, with no sign of an end in sight due to mass retirement of baby boomers in the past two years. There was no real danger to my job in 2008-2012 and I just had slower wage growth.

DH’s job is fairly recession proof as well now. In the past he has had some pretty big layoffs, with periods of 4-6 months of unemployment.

We’ve structured our lifestyle on living on my income as a baseline. We also have a fair amount of cash reserves due to not doing anything due to Covid.

We are lucky to not really have to be concerned. In the meantime, I’m trying to grow more in the garden and cut grocery costs by cutting meat.

[ssmjlm]

Our jobs are recession proof, but our increases aren't in line with inflation, so in essence we won't get ahead. If Congress/OPM could get on the same page with the COLA increases + premiums increase actually giving us an increase, that would be great.

I'm trying to meal plan and eat what we have. We do a lot of 5:30pm "what's for dinner?" looks the past few weeks.

[gt7301b]

Honestly, nothing. We both have secure jobs and the chance of us both being laid off at the same time is not zero, but pretty darn close. We have been spending a fair amount on travel and than should slow down next month. The only thing I am doing is looking at our target/amazon purchases and trying to clamp down on them and spacing out some of our other larger purchases like a replacement workout room TV.

[plutosmoon]

Nothing. My job gets busier when there is a recession and my employer might pause annual raises, or new hires, but doesn't lay people off. I'm sitting on a lot of cash currently to buy a house, so in a worst case scenario I'd use that and put off home buying in the event of job loss.

[niq]

This doesn't really feel like a Great Recession to me at all. Household and corporate balance sheets are in much better shape, it doesn't sound like we'll get all the way to job losses, just a slowing of growth. There's some nerdy debate about the GDP vs GDI gap and I don't know how to think about that. I think there will be some growth slowing or even modest job losses in home building and tech, but it'll be concentrated in CRAP (can't realize any profit) firms -- crypto, b2c without a clear revenue stream, etc.

I did an informational with a startup, and while in normal times the odds of me taking the job would have been low, at this point it's zero. My teams priorities are realigning to meet clearer business goals instead of "lalala we're going to let the devs work on whatever seems like a good idea".

We're not really making any spending changes, IDK what the plan is if I get laid off (which would almost certainly mean a pay cut once I found a new job). Probably be more careful about spending money on kid/family activities. Fewer pro sports and puppet shows, more trips to the Zoo, park, minor league baseball, etc.

[winnied]

No major changes. Our hard set expenses are living well below our income level so we would be able to pay the essentials even if one of us lost our jobs. We have decent job security and we make about the same amount so we wouldn't be totally SOL if one of us lost our jobs. Major potential costs have been paid in the last couple years (new roof, new AC, etc.) so barring any major life incidents requiring medical bills and otherwise, we should be OK.

The main concern if one of us lost our jobs would be daycare. We could pull our daughter, of course, but then getting her back into one if/when we get a new job would be impossible. It would probably be the last thing we cut entirely, we would try to just go down to fewer days.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jul 25, 2022 11:45:37 GMT -5 niq said:

 puppet shows

I am very sorry to choose this one detail out of a very comprehensive and well-reasoned response but it is cracking me up that puppet shows are a big line-item expense in your household.  :-D

[niq]

Jul 25, 2022 12:37:53 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Jul 25, 2022 11:45:37 GMT -5 niq said:

 puppet shows

I am very sorry to choose this one detail out of a very comprehensive and well-reasoned response but it is cracking me up that puppet shows are a big line-item expense in your household.  :-D

LOL I was trying to come up with examples of "ticketed events that aren't cheap" ... children's theater here is $45/seat, which feels like a lot to me! But most of the spending there is sports

[Poppy]

We are doing the exact wrong thing... we've been spending a lot (just got back from vacation where we were a little freer with the purse strings then anticipated) and I am thinking of making my leave of absence from work permanent (aka retiring). But I think even if the next few years are rough, I would be able to go back to work and we'd be back on track. It might be painful to have to sell at lows in the interim, though.

[Deleted]

I got a second w-2 job in addition to the two side hustles I have (teaching online and pet sitting). My main job is recession proof but I need more income to buy a house in a general sense. Now I work 60-80 hours a week while I update my resume and casually job search.

[shaynaatl]

I think DH's job will be secure, though a temporary pay cut could be on the table.

My company had some poor results recently, and I expect layoffs to occur. Hopefully it doesn't affect me, but I'm planning on creating a LinkedIn profile just in case.

In terms of spending, we are actually spending more than usual, mainly on travel.