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Surviving recession
By Peter Simmons of Password Publishing
Doom and gloom That's all we get from the media, who like a good panic story to get their teeth into, and, while being overpaid themselves, go to great lengths to search out stories of job losses and despair. But it doesn't have to be like this. Before recession was being talked about, many people were downsizing; reducing their consumption habits, shopping less, moving to a smaller house, abandoning a well paid, highly stressful job in a city for a more laid back one in the countryside. Others dropped out of the rat race completely and started growing their own food, doing things for themselves. Now, with forced redundancies and loss of jobs, there's the opportunity for many others to do the same, and, far from being the despairing prospect the media like to paint, it's a golden opportunity to remove stress from their lives and start once again to enjoy life. Many who have spent years, perhaps their whole adult lives, in one well-paid job will naturally think they can't possibly exist on so much less than they have been used to, but the poor have been doing it forever; they even manage to be happy a lot of the time on very little. What some might spend on a meal out, others live on for a week. How to cope on less Those with experience of unemployment have strategies for coping on little. First, you don't shop unless you need something. Shopping for need costs a lot less than shopping for retail therapy; buying things you don't need and will most likely never use is pretty stupid when you think what you have to do to earn that money. Buying from charity shops is a good way to reduce the cost of such things as clothes and furniture. Food is best fresh grown, and many people are starting to learn how to grow their own, most having gardens that up to now were purely decorative. Allotments where even more food can be grown are expanding after decades of diminishing interest, and now there are again waiting lists for allotments. Don't be scared Having lived on welfare, I know it's not the frightening experience many think it is, in fact, there were many times that getting a job would have inconvenienced me hugely as I had so much to do, and taking a chunk out of the day would have diminished my time. I'm amused by those who, redundant from their spoilt former existence of guaranteed monthly pay cheques, spend their days filling in job applications, fine tuning their CV and full time agonising over their lot, fighting feelings of inadequacy and generally being miserable. I never had time to feel sorry for myself, I was always too busy living. Living without a job Most of the world lives without jobs. That's a statement that many in the developed world might dispute, but they'd be wrong, it's a fact. Most people employ themselves, and as such they utilise all their capabilities as inventive, creative human beings to eke out a living one way or another. Making things to sell, providing services that others will pay for, recycling useful goods, growing their own food; there are many ways people get by without a superannuated career which is just high-priced slavery. When standing on your own two feet, you are beholden to no one, are your own boss, don't have to take orders from anyone. You may be much poorer, but poverty is a state of mind dictated by the rich. It's a fact that 60% of the UK workforce work for small businesses, many of them self-employed. So the norm isn't salaries with big corporations like car manufacturers or banks but small firms of a few people providing something useful, be it services or goods. And that's just in the macro economy. Many are outside this system and exist within smaller, less organised networks where cash changes hands without invoices or accounts. It's surprising how little you can manage on when the tax man isn't waiting to grab a third! When so much of government spending is on such things as foreign wars, subsidising illegal immigrants lives while they appeal decisions to deport them, paying huge salaries to politicians to sit on their arses and waffle ignorantly about subjects they don't understand, funding police boy racers to roar about in fast cars chasing other boy racers, and paying out billions to banks which threw away investor's money on gambling scams or car firms which made gas guzzling ego monsters,one could make a good case for the morality of tax avoidance. Bartering and Credit In many countries there are local bartering systems called LETS - Local Exchange Trading System - where you can swap goods or skills for others' goods and skills without anyone claiming tax on the transaction - you may be able to cut hair, a haircut earns you LETS trading points that can be exchanged for, say, some gardening work or a second hand sofa or bike. Then there are Credit Unions which make very low interest loans available to those without much income who save regularly, even if only small amounts. You save and after a short while, you can borrow twice or three times your savings. Having been a founder member of one Credit Union back in the late eighties, I now have in excess of £3,000 saved at £10 a month, so I can now borrow £9,000 if I ever need to. Meanwhile my savings are loaned to others at a low interest rate which I get a share of to boost my savings. It's not Fanny Mae or HBOS, but for many people it works well and gives them access to low cost loans at times of need. Credit Unions in third world countries have made very small loans available to small farmers [often women who can't get credit from banks] to develop their land and become self sufficient food producers. Relax! So my advice to anyone worried how they can cope with the recession is relax, start to enjoy your freedom, explore ways to broaden your life experience, barter and make do, repair things instead of throwing them away, buy cheaply from charity shops, swap childrens' clothes with friends, make things yourself, in short, embrace your new life as one full of opportunity and potential. And cut up your credit cards!
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http://www.letslinkuk.org/
| http://www.abcul.org/page/index.cfm
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Union
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Whatever happens, whatever comes, there are only 4 simple rules you need to know and implement: you need money to produce, you need money to survive, you need consumers who have money to buy your products and services, you need to conserve your habitat before it's too late. So how can you implement this simple 4 rules? How and where are you going to get this treasuries?
Economic Crises - Survive, Save Your Job And Do Business
 |  | crom Feb 26, 2009 11:41 | |
My wife and I are both self employed and I agree with you that the job what many people have is just a false sense of security.
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