Admit it... are you spending money?
Survey Results for 03/25/2009:
In this period of economic recession, my discretionary purchases have been:
Occasional, for great deals |
| 52% | ||
Non-existent |
| 25% | ||
Unchanged from pre-recession levels |
| 18% | ||
More frequent, there are deals to be had |
| 5% |
Spend, baby, spend!
This week's poll question was a fun confessional of spending activities. I got some great emails outlining industry folks' recent purchases, despite our economic gloom. It is true that a significant percentage of our voters, 25 percent, say their discretionary purchases have come to a grinding halt. But that leaves 75 percent of our poll participants who are either spending the same amount of money, or perhaps a little more when there are good bargains to be had.
Want to read what people have been buying? Here you go:
| "We are spending money! Surprising when you think about it. We did purchase a car and now we are looking to get our house aluminum sided. Both could be put off, but the car was an excellent deal—its predecessor was 10 years old. The siding is something that can definitely be put on hold, but we thought that the prices would be good right now. We are more cautious about the little things, but if there are good deals out there, why not?" |
| "I would like to make a small ($5,000) change to the entrance to the house, but not sure if we can get that much saved by this spring. Cash is the rule. Yes , we still need to make expensive purchases, and will. We will not borrow to accomplish this, and we will do without something, before we make a purchase, just to make sure it is the right thing to do." |
"Personal residence:
Counted up about four grand. Let’s all get 'stimulated.'" |
| "Just as the 5-foot pile of snow in my yard is melting away, I decided to bite the bullet and invest in a new snowblower – bigger and better than my 20-some year old John Deere. We thought if the old one finally goes to snowblower heaven – which is likely to happen sooner rather than later – I could be stuck looking to replace it mid-season with no bargains or perhaps even stock to choose from. In the end, I saved about $500. Getting an end of season clearance from a local box store. This was not an impulse purchase and certainly not something I would do on a regular basis, but I saved a bundle on something that I was going to end up purchasing sooner or later. In the end, I think life is just carrying on, perhaps with some new challenges, and I do my part of keeping the dollars flowing from one pocket to the next." |
| "Our home is new (2 years), and we're finishing up the remaining details, but doing the labor ourselves. Since we're in no rush, [we're] doing the ceramic tile in the mud-room and master bath ourselves. It's giving us time to be more creative with the design work, and buying better quality products, like porcelain instead of ceramic. We bought a gas fireplace for the cabin—but it was a close-out, so, a good deal." |
| "In the past 6-9 months I have replaced all 18 of the windows in my home, as well as a sliding door. Unfortunately I did this without the benefit of a tax credit. I hated to miss out on the tax incentive but who would have thought that 4 months after I am finished, the credit is brought back to life in 2009. In addition, I tore down an old deck and replaced it with one three times the size. These things could have waited - sure - but they also needed to be done. Was it really worth waiting 6 to 12 months so I could claim $500 credit on my taxes? I had just purchased the home and was watching the heat escape through the windows - it was time. With my 401K plummeting in value, my home is my largest investment. Fortunately, we live in an area where real estate prices have remained constant so improvements increased the value of the home." |
| "I too am going forward on home improvements as you are. We are putting new hardwood floors and ceramic tile throughout our first floor of our house. We are also replacing the entry doors in the house. While traveling last week in Nashville, I saw a display from the road at the Home Depot that I wanted to take a closer look at. It was mid-day and mid-week and was very surprised by the activity at the store. It felt like a busy Saturday, not a Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully, things are starting to improve!" |
Well, you folks know where I stand on this issue... I say spend responsibly! Send me an email to let me know what else you're buying and wish me luck—I'm just about finished with my bathroom project!
Share this article:
Contact Christina Lewellen, senior editor, at clewellen@glass.org.
Comments
Post new comment