There is a poll on the WWO Livejournal site about how people are adapting to the times- go take a minute and fill it out! I decided to expand on my answers here.
(1) How much money have you lost since April 30? Tell us the top reasons: Paid out in fuel surcharges? Lost income? Lost property?
I personally haven’t lost a lot because I already rent, share a house, and do the things to which people have had to step down… I guess I’ve been slumming it the whole time. My savings have been in cash and metals for about a year prior, so I haven’t lost money at least.
The business I work for is paying more in fuel surcharges, and the cost of ingredients has risen sharply, so it has definitely lost profit, as well as business since people have less disposable income. Thankfully I’m still employed so I still have income. I probably won’t be getting a raise anytime soon, but loss of future income is low on my list of things to worry about right now.
(2) How much less fuel do you use since April 30?
About the same, honestly, which is pretty little. I still walk to work, and ride the bus when things are too far away (or I’m too tired) to walk; I can bike when the weather cooperates. I sold my car back in March because I had barely moved it in 3 months… it was old but got excellent gas mileage, or I would have sold it earlier. I’m more judicious about my utility use (water, gas, electric) nowadays so that is indirectly saving fuel I guess.
(3) Has your quality of life declined or increased? What are the top reasons?
My personal quality of life hasn’t really declined. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s increased, but I lived a practical existence before the crisis started so things people have learned to incorporate were often things I did anyway (walking instead of driving short distances, shopping at farmers’ markets and CSAs, sharing housing to save money). It’s harder to find things that are in short supply, but it hasn’t caused me undue hardship.
It is clear, however, that other people are having a tough time- the Wamu failure was a huge problem here, since this is its home territory. A lot of folks were house-poor already and this tipped the scales.
