Effects of the economy - is everyone feeling the crunch?

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lisalinnay
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Effects of the economy - is everyone feeling the crunch?

Postby lisalinnay » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:40 am

IMHO the economy in this country seems to be going down the toilet. Sorry to start out so crass, but I'm feeling really frustrated. Trying to make ends meet these days is getting pretty impossible.

We've been homeschooling from the onset, and I've always stayed home with our kids - working from home. Finances have always been tight for us, but we've always had enough to get by and buy the things we need. But this year, things are awful.

My husband is a full time marine deputy in the summers, and in in the colder months he is an instructor for firearms safety, and he also teaches some law enforcement and military groups. He's awsome at what he does, but during the cold months of the year classes are limited since most of it has to be held outside.

We've always relied on our other business which I primarily run - our internet sales business - to make up the rest of our income. Other years it has done well enough to cover everything, but this year it's not. Sales are down - about half or less than other years. We don't live frivolously and we don't have a lot of high bills. We live in a very small home in the country, have one car that's 8 years old, and we never go out to eat, to the movies, on shopping trips, etc. We've always bought mostly second-hand clothes. Family outings are limited to inexpensive or free outings. The most expensive thing we do is go to the zoo once or twice a year. But this fall we can't even afford to do that. With our internet sales down, and the price of necessities up so much - milk over $4 a gallon, and gas over $3 a gallon, and it seems everything else is up too - we can't even go to the zoo. In fact, I'm wondering how we'll afford winter coats and boots for the kids this year. And Christmas presents ? That's a big question.

Is this happening to a lot of families, or is it just us?

It seems like no matter what I do with the internet business - add new product lines, drop prices, etc. - nothing works. I don't have the big advertising budget that the big businesses do, so I can't advertise on sites like PriceGrabber - did you know they charge $1000 set up plus cost per click? Businesses who really need their service can't afford it. The big ones who can afford it, don't even need it. This world is so backwards.

Our main distributor is even in trouble. One of the big superstores talked them into buying a "ton" of LeapFrog stuff for them, and now the superstore isn't coming through and buying it. I'm trying to help my distributor out by offering all of it at wholesale prices on our site. My distributor has always come through for me. I hope I can come through for them. The way I see it, it's time for damage control. Everyone needs to start lending a hand and helping each other. There's no room for greed.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll stop now as this post is getting quite long. I look forward to hearing others' opinions, suggestions, and experiences.
Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth. . .


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Postby ncmom » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:05 am


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lisalinnay
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Postby lisalinnay » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:44 am

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth. . .




Academic Software and LeapFrog Toys at Discount prices

http://voisales.com

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Postby iamnettie » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:05 am


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Postby Theodore » Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:43 pm

It's simply a lack of confidence. The housing market dying has cut a lot of value and caused people and businesses to act conservatively, including the banks, which don't want to loan money any more for fear of not getting it back. Since circulating money has an expansion effect, money not circulating has a compression effect, and the economy isn't doing so well as a result.

On the plus side, housing prices should stabilize eventually, and the gov't has talked a bunch of major banks into teaming together to create a short-term business loan fund (something that businesses absolutely need to stay running but haven't been able to access as much the past year or so due to the crunch), so things should hopefully improve a bit on that end. Given, gas prices aren't likely to improve, and the asinine emphasis on ethanol as a fuel will likely continue to keep food prices high (unless consumers revolt and decide they want cheap food more than cheap ethanol), but it's not high gas or food prices that has been killing the economy, but rather lack of fluidity. If confidence improves, so will sales.

On a personal note - you might try looking into Google AdWords, putting one of each item up on Amazon and Ebay to build consumer awareness, advertising on our groups area, etc. Even a small budget can go a long way if you use it in the right places.

---------

ADDED NOTE ABOUT ETHANOL AS A FUEL: Ethanol burns cleanly, but it's also a very good solvent, meaning it strips all the crud off the inside of fuel tanks if they aren't cleaned 10x as often (thus adding cost at the pump). Also, corn-based ethanol costs nearly as much energy to produce as it gives when useed, so it doesn't actually help the environment overall - it's only sugarcane ethanol that's energy-efficient. So using corn to produce ethanol only really serves to raise food prices.

You can, however, use small amounts of ethanol in an injection system to reduce knocking and improve compression ratios, meaning a much smaller engine can produce more power. This use of ethanol makes sense, but doesn't require ethanol on a large scale (you'd have a small secondary tank of ethanol and fill it up once a month), so the corn producers lobby is of course not interested.

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Postby lisalinnay » Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:09 pm

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth. . .




Academic Software and LeapFrog Toys at Discount prices

http://voisales.com

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Postby Theodore » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:30 am


StellarStory
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Postby StellarStory » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:13 pm

I'm feeling the pinch.

*nods*

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Postby twiggybumble » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:08 am

We, too, are feeling the crunch here at my place. I think just about everyone is.

I can rationalize the gas to food prices. However, I can't stop seeing the dollar signs in front of my eyes when I think of the money being spent abroad. Of course, this is neither here nor there. It's in someone's pocket, no doubt.

Have you considered quitting your business, or putting it on hold? I don't know if that is even a feasible option for you, but I am assuming that running the business itself is taking up monetary resources for you. I do understand the constraints of advertising, and regretfully, I don't have any fresh options to offer you on that front.

I hope it improves for you! :)

Note on Christmas- I personally don't buy my son many gifts for Christmas, for a few reasons. Firstly, I feel that the commercialism takes away from the point of Christmas in the first place. Secondly, we've always lived on a shoe-string, and I want him to be appreciative of what he does recieve 365 days a year. I do a lot of candle making, soap making, flower arrangements, bath salts, and paintings as gifts for people. In some ways, this can be more expensive, but I usually budget a certain amount of money every so often for supplies. I know having this attitude towards "gift-giving" has caused my son to use his creative talents rather than feeling he has to "buy" presents for people he loves.

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Postby StellarStory » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:19 am

If you are talking to me, my business does not take much to operate and brings in a little money. So no that is not an option.

twiggybumble
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Postby twiggybumble » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:36 am

No, Stellar, I was talking to lisalinnay. :)

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Postby StellarStory » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:32 pm

Oh, okay, sorry I misunderstood!


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