Are you on a spending spree?

[Jacqui D]

I can't believe the way people are just spending, spending, spending.
With the economic crisis now looking very grim indeed for 2009 it is not stopping the potential consumer of getting that last bargain before the real problems start.
The hoards or shoppers seen on the high street is at an all time high even though most know of the backlash that is about to hit in the next few weeks and months.
Are people just plain greedy or are they so controlled their brains do not register the dilema that is almost upon us.



Sale fever 'not enough for shops'

Some shoppers were forced to queue for an hour in order to pay
The annual stampede to the post-Christmas sales will not save stores from a grim 2009, the head of the British Retail Consortium says.

Thousands of shoppers have flocked take advantage of price cuts of up to 70%.

But the consortium's director-general Stephen Robertson said declining sales, heavy discounts and rising costs meant retail jobs were under threat.

He said December was "poor" overall, despite department store John Lewis reporting pre-Christmas sales up 2.5%.

"We had poor sales in October, worse sales in November and retailers were telling me that December started very poorly indeed," Mr Robertson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

"I suspect the rush just before Christmas and what looks like a very successful Boxing Day probably won't have clawed that back."

Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested that 82% of high street retailers offered either sales or promotions in the run up to Christmas. Margins are being crushed by these fabulous promotions that customers are enjoying at the moment but costs are still rising

Stephen Robertson


Anti-fur protest at Harrods sale

John Lewis began its clearance sale online at 6pm on Christmas Eve and went on to record its busiest ever internet sales.

It said the final four shopping days in the run-up to Christmas had seen a 2.5% increase in sales compared with the same period last year.

And its in-store sale, launched on Saturday, had brought year-on-year rises in till receipts of 20% at its Aberdeen store and 11% in Edinburgh.

Retail analyst Experian FootFall said preliminary figures indicated a 12.5% annual increase in the number of Boxing Day shoppers across the UK.

However, Springboard, which monitors 27 locations in London and across 50 other major UK towns, put the increase at 2.3%

Around 500,000 bargain-hunters flocked to London's West End, while more than 100,000 visited Kent's Bluewater shopping centre - a 10% increase on last year.
Shoppers have been out in droves to make the most of the sales

Up to 180,000 bargain hunters were expected to visit the centre on Saturday - up 6% on last year.

Shopping areas in Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff reported similar levels of interest, while more than 10,000 people visited Selfridge's London store within its first hour of trading.

Despite a protest by anti-fur campaigners, Saturday saw similar scenes at Harrods and shoppers queued before early-morning launches of the Next and Marks & Spencer sales.

Birmingham's Bullring centre - which contains more than 160 stores - saw queues of around 2,800 shoppers wait for its doors to open.

The centre's general manager, Tim Walley, said more than 190,000 shoppers visited the first day of the sales - up 5% on last year.

He said 230,000 were expected the second day as shoppers hunted for "seasonal discounts".

A spokeswoman for Sheffield's Meadowhall Centre said: "Every bit of available land around the centre has been used for car parking, there's not a space left."

'Triple Whammy'

Mr Robertson predicted that strong performances in the sales would not prevent retailers suffering throughout 2009.

"We've seen... a triple whammy of sales declining, the margins are being crushed by these fabulous promotions that customers are enjoying at the moment but costs are still rising," he said.

Business rates are due to rise by 5% in April, based on October's Retail Prices Index level of inflation.

Mr Robertson said this would threaten the future of many retail jobs next year.

London's West End saw 3.5% more people than Boxing Day last year while the number in Oxford Street alone was up 5.4%.

Jace Tyrrell, of the New West End Company, said it was good news for the many shops which suffered an anxious start to the month but still predicted December's sales would be down.

Savvy shoppers had bought gift vouchers before Christmas in the knowledge they would get more for their money in the sales, he said.

Capital Shopping Centres, which oversees 14 UK shopping centres in the UK including the MetroCentre, near Newcastle, and Lakeside, in Essex, predicted strong trading up to New Year's Eve.

A spokesman said TVs, mobile phones, winter clothes and home wares were among the most popular items.

[Egg]

I have no sympathy for anyone who went out Boxing day and spent hours and hours stood in ques till their feet ached.

I also have zero sympathy for those who say that they are maxed out on their credit cards due to buying said bargains.

I felt that this Christmas was the most souless, joyless expressionless Christmas I have ever felt. In my house it was beautiful, but the feeling on the street was misery personified.

[Swanny]

My guess is people are buying stuff while they still can.
Money will soon be worthless so why bother to keep it??
Personally I've been spending on survival stuff but they are still asleep so don't know enough to do that.

[Czymra]

I felt that this Christmas was the most souless, joyless expressionless Christmas I have ever felt. In my house it was beautiful, but the feeling on the street was misery personified.

I felt the same way. It wasn't like christmas was even here but that is a matter of whom I spend it with anyway.
It is rather disconcerting that people are so mindlessly consuming, then again I was shopping today but I hope to justify that since I buy clothes every christmas. It's when I get the money to actually do so. It's a student life, ne? There is rather little to prepare when you live from hand in mouth. And sturdy clothes are the best preparation I can have in my mind.

Anyway, maybe there is a way to turn this trend to 'our' favour? Does somebody have the capability of selling an 'apocalypse now' product?
No offence meant, just speaking out a very raw idea.

[Humble Janitor]

Originally Posted by Egg

I have no sympathy for anyone who went out Boxing day and spent hours and hours stood in ques till their feet ached.

I also have zero sympathy for those who say that they are maxed out on their credit cards due to buying said bargains.

I felt that this Christmas was the most souless, joyless expressionless Christmas I have ever felt. In my house it was beautiful, but the feeling on the street was misery personified.

I totally agree with you but instead, I feel for those who are unable to break the retail chains. I did buy a few gifts for family. However, the majority of gifts I gave went to my brother and they were donated goods such as furniture and a microwave, which will help my brother adjust to life outside of prison again. I also donated clothes that don't fit me.

Christmas for my family was the best in years.

As for those who choose to max out their cards, that is their choice. I agree that they should not be whining when they cannot pay their debts. They should have kept it simple and made a gift or donated something they didn't want/use as a gift.

[Dantheman62]

No spending spree here!, in fact I'm in a selling spree, LOL!, selling everything I own!

Hardly.

We cut our expenses to the bone two years ago and have
continued cutting since then.

One of life's little pleasures is getting letters from Direct
TV begging us to come back.

Our electricity consumption dropped from an average of
9kwh per day down to 7.5kwh per day.

The temperature in our home is set at 50 degrees. Our foam clothing makes up the difference and we have not been cold at all this winter. Our kerosene consumption was 15 gallons for the month of November.

We declared it a rainy day and started eating some of
our long term storable food.

We had a conversation over soup discussing the merits
of soups and casseroles to decrease meat consumption.
This is in anticipation of govt enforced rationing. As students of history we remember that the UK rationed meat until 1954, almost ten years after the war was over. By learning to cut now we will suffer less when it
comes for real.

We've turned combining trips into an art form to save gasoline. On a run to the farm supply I spied 55 gallon drums for sale. With gasoline at 2004 levels stocking up
a supply for the home with a hand pump is on the table to carry us through the memorial day spike we know is coming.

During the severe winter weather we were blessed to be able to just close the gate and not need a thing. We heard stories of every generator and kerosene heater flying off the shelf in panic buying in spite of dangerously icy roads. Our preparations paid off. Not only did we not need to venture outside our gate. We did not even need to go shopping in our barn for food or fuel until the weather got better. We shop a month at a time. If pressed would could not venture out for six months or more, but our cats and dogs would be eating people food and our chickens would end up canned!

We are blessed to still be employed. The savings are allocated toward being debt free. with an eye to the day
that we stop being paid. In my line of work there will
always be a job to go to. The question is will a paycheck
be part of the deal. In the old Soviet Union folks went
months working while waiting for back pay, or any pay at all. That is what I see happening to me if it all goes
south. But there will always be work waiting to be done...

[Czymra]

Originally Posted by Dantheman62

No spending spree here!, in fact I'm in a selling spree, LOL!, selling everything I own!

Yes, in fact I've done that a few months ago as well. It's a pleasure to just give things away as well. Now I own only 4 bags.


Baggywrinkle, the level to which you are prepared for anything is almost scary. How many armed personnel guard your fort and have you got a tunnel dug below your house?

[Swanny]

Originally Posted by Dantheman62

No spending spree here!, in fact I'm in a selling spree, LOL!, selling everything I own!

I need to start selling everything as well, no more work for me so will have to live off the money I can make selling stuff
Anyone want a second hand PSP?

[Jacqui D]

It seems there are a few who have taken the heed and been more serious about the economic climate.
Around september i started my boot fairs again and sold mostly everything i had stored in the attic, which was great made a little not much but it all helps.
Bought my xmas presents at a knocked down price this year and all though everyone did get just one gift be it small and cheap we all excepted that this is how things may be for a few years now if things do not pick up in the employment stakes.
My two sons are now out of work all work in the building trade so the future looks pretty grim indeed.
I don't think my sons realise how hard it will get they have never seen a recession before unlike my generation who have lost everything before.
I hope my sons do not lose their homes, but if the worst comes to the worst my home is a shelter for all.

Originally Posted by Czymra

Baggywrinkle, the level to which you are prepared for anything is almost scary. How many armed personnel guard your fort and have you got a tunnel dug below your house?

You are kidding right?

[Czymra]

Originally Posted by Baggywrinkle

You are kidding right?

I am, still considering your night vision etc. it's rather impressive if not unthinkable where I'm from. Germany's kept so tame.

[dayzero]

Czymra you'l need more than night vision if you don't get out of London
relatively soon!

I'm buying books. Books books books.
And also stocking up in the pound shops [and elsewhere] for stuff that soon-ish you'll realise was ridiculously cheap - when the just-in-time 'economy' stops. We have an opportunity at the present time to buy stuff cheaper than it will ever be again, imo.

Check out Cliff High's Half Past Human analyses,, George Green's interviews or even Leo Zagami's latest radio show interview. Smell the coffee and at least buy some sensible stock-up stuff.

And enjoy every minute of it too!

[Dantheman62]

Maybe I'll splurge and buy some balloons! LOL!

[dayzero]

But don't forget the Nitrous, Dan!

Psssshhhhht.

Originally Posted by Czymra

I am, still considering your night vision etc. it's rather impressive if not unthinkable where I'm from. Germany's kept so tame.

Someone shot a dog that we had. That and the kids who gather at the school bus stop on Friday nite increased the
paranoia. Mailbox bashers and yobos shooting hunting rifles at night out in the woods. Our problem is we are not FAR enough from the city. They busted a meth lab two miles from where we live. Violent forced entry is a
distinct possibility. Where we live we are isolated enough that they could do what they wanted in complete privacy. Law enforcement response is unacceptably slow.
Perimeter alert at the property line and open carry side arms on your own property starts to look pretty good in that environment. We've had wild life walk right up to the open door while we were looking out. Never know when a raccoon will be rabid. There is also a cougar that comes by once a year hoping for a chicken dinner. Ever hear a cougar scream when it touches an electric fence 300 feet from your bedroom window at night?

I admit that the night vision was extreme. But when you need it, you are REALLY glad it is an option rather than showing a light.

This property has guided us down the path we follow. Then, world events picked up where the property left off.
If you really read what FERfal has been through. If you take the time to understand what Dimitry Orlov has said.
You will realize that our preps are barely sufficient.

We have only prepared for economic collapse. We are not prepared for total anarchy like they have in Somalia.

You made a jest about tunnels being dug. There are those on this forum who are saying underground is the place to be by AUGUST 2009. I cannot bear to even think in that direction. The cost of burying a schoolbus. The logistics involved, are extreme even for me.

Time has shown that our preps were timely and appropriate. Two years ago we bought long term storable food for my aging mother. She raised cain and wouldn't have any part of it. So it ended up with us instead of her. Just last month, she changed her mind and had us help her buy a years supply. She's 72 years old and a thousand miles from where we are. For her to
take the plunge was nothing short of miraculous.

Listen to the whispers before they become shouts. Swim against the lemming tide while you can. That is all I can say. If we are wrong and nothing happens, what have you lost? Just eat the food. How hard is that?

I am SORRY to report that something is happening. The only unknown is when and how severe.

As Dimitry Orlov said in his article Our Village;

As I mentioned, the collapse of the Soviet economy was barely detectable in Soykino. Reasoning by analogy, if some of the more pessimistic (or, as more and more of us think, realistic) predictions come true, and the developed portions of the United States become completely dysfunctional, much more so than they are presently, a village such as Soykino, if one existed, would remain similarly unaffected. And if you owned a house there, you could live there, and be unaffected as well.

Upon arriving, you would no doubt have to explain to the other residents what happened: “You see, the economy collapsed, and now there is nothing more for me to do out there.” And they would say: “No! Really? That’s a pretty big thing, isn’t it?” And you would say: “Huge! Could you please pass the pickled mushrooms?”

Your goal is to place as many degrees of separation between the rough ragged edge and yourself as you can.
When your response to disaster is pass the pickled mushrooms you know that you have arrived.

[alyscat]

Hmmm, I guess I am on a spending spree. My Christmas gift from my dad was a log splitter, a Stihl chainsaw, and a pressure canner. I haven't actually bought them yet, but I will as soon as I get home and can be sure I'll be there when the delivery comes.

I can understand your concern, Baggy. The one thing I don't have is a fence (or a weapon), and I can see the place for one (or both). We don't have cougars (that I know of), but we do have other things that prevent me from letting my kitties out during the day or nite.

alys

Originally Posted by alyscat

Hmmm, I guess I am on a spending spree. My Christmas gift from my dad was a log splitter, a Stihl chainsaw, and a pressure canner. I haven't actually bought them yet, but I will as soon as I get home and can be sure I'll be there when the delivery comes.

I can understand your concern, Baggy. The one thing I don't have is a fence (or a weapon), and I can see the place for one (or both). We don't have cougars (that I know of), but we do have other things that prevent me from letting my kitties out during the day or nite.

alys

Oh yes, you do have cougars, as well as coyotes and black bear. Don't ever doubt it. I've seen two young cougars and one black bear run across the road in front of me in the five years we've been here. One of the cougars was in a suburb on the outskirts of Lacey.
The bear was on range road at Ft Lewis. We had a bull elk answer a hunting call our second year here. He came clip clopping down the road and into our open gate. He was so heavy our deck was shaking five hundred feet away. Scared the **** out of my son who was blowing the call on our deck. We could hear him, but never saw a thing. (that pitch black again). His dying rabbit sounded like an elk cow in heat!

[alyscat]

Well, I actually saw a coyote in town in Yelm, so I know for sure they're around (and can hear them at night, responding to the dogs in the area) - and we've got a family of deer - but I will keep in mind that the other critters exist, thanks!
alys

[Czymra]

Baggywrinkle, you've just become my personal hero.

I understand that what you do is the least, but I think it is the maximum as well as I find it hard to imagine that any location can be secured by a small group of people to such an extent that you can survive 'anarchy'. I will personally have to dive into seeing where and how to be rather than preparing materially.

Czymra you'l need more than night vision if you don't get out of London
relatively soon!

Don't scare the s**t out of me man. It's a last 5 months over there finishing my studies, but I'm currently at home, which is countryside Germany, at least half-way to the 'pickled mushrooms' so I'm keeping my ears to the ground. I am nervous about being stuck in that monster of a labyrinth but that won't help anything. More than the city itself, I am weary of not getting off the island should something occur.

I totally agree, this was the most soulless Christmas ever - I spent it alone. I was shocked people lined up outside department stores at 5am on Boxing day, just to save 50% buying trash they don't need!! I saved 100% as I never brought any trash & had a great sleep-in on boxing day. I think not being able to shop will be maximum torture for many people when the economy goes into meltdown!!
I have been throwing away trash I've brought in past years, as selling it just gives me headaches - even on eBay, things go for next to nothing & buyers are too demanding. The less I have, the better I feel - like that "parable" of the soldiers on the long march - the more they progressed, the less "stuff" they found they needed (or wanted) to carry in their back-packs.
I did buy tinned plum pudding & other Christmas food after boxing day to add to my food stores - It'll be depressing to eat rice all day when I need to use my food stores, so now I have tinned Christmas cake, and many danish shortbread to eat!!

[Humble Janitor]

I wish I could be as prepared as some on here. I attribute my inability to plan to my lack of finances.

[alyscat]

Garage and yard sales. Having had several, I know that if you're willing to spend the time looking, there are good deals out there. People who are moving are anxious to get rid of things they don't want to pack - like canning jars for a nickel or dime - with lids.
You can do it, HJ.
alys