Are you doing your part for the economy?

[Karin1984]

Fascinating thread with some insight into the American mind And it's a positive one Yes there are some small things going around here to 'support local', but other than that the whole 'don't ask what your country can do for you...'-mentality is something that just doesn't come up here in the Netherlands. I think if you would discuss it with people we might just think 'oh yeah, we could do that'. But without feeling a need or feel guilty about it.

Restaurants - Handful of times going to the restaurant (2 times dinner, 1 time lunch), did do a lot of ordering take out in the beginning ;-) I also support Ben & Jerry's a lot during this time.

(Movie)Theater- one time movie theater, and two times regular theater.

Tourism - not domestic tourism, but I did support France' and Germany's tourism

Airlines- I work for an airline, I do a lot of supporting here. I did fly to Germany, but it was with the credit I got so little less contributing than when paying for a new ticket

Things for the house- I had just bought some new furniture and re-did my floor in February before we got into lockdown. Bought some scented candles the other day.

Taxi/Uber/ Lyft- not in NL, but I never do, we have very good public transportation here, so I was supporting them. I did take an Uber in Belgium (when I was on my way to France)

Bars- I never go to bars.

Retail - On occassion, did make some bigger purchases this weekend. Was watching a video on preparing for earthquakes and other disasters and what should be in your emergency kit. So went out to buy all kinds of necessities, like space blankets, flashlight, candles, first aid kit.

 

[fla4fun]

As far as tourism goes, I have been doing my part. I took a beach vacation in June, a WDW trip in July and in August, and I am going back to the beach this month. I don’t fly under normal circumstances so that hasn’t changed.

Otherwise, my spending has been low, but that is typical for me. There is a concern that there could be more layoffs coming, since my company has already been through two big rounds of layoffs this year. The uncertainty makes spending decisions more difficult. However, under normal conditions I don’t eat out or go to movies, or use rideshare/taxis, so not spending in those areas isn’t due to the virus.

 

[Lake183]

Fascinating thread. Especially the number of references regarding Amazon orders.

I absolutely cannot say that my household is Amazon-free. We order from them. But the damage they have caused to the small local industries is undeniable. Large companies who pay little to no taxes are crushing local stores during this pandemic. Jeff Bezos grew his wealth by $48 BILLION from March to June this year.

Not saying this to shame anyone at all, and I know there are a lot of reasons sites like Amazon are necessary, but I wanted to highlight this so that maybe someone who is shopping online today will instead buy from a locally-owned store...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/business/big-companies-are-starting-to-swallow-the-world.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...er-at-height-of-pandemic-in-u-s-idUSKCN24V3HL

 

[NMBCFangirl]

I've been getting takeout from several local places and tipping better than previous dine in rates (I'm a heavy tipper anyway) and doing patio dining at a couple places.

I've been buying things from small businesses as much as possible even if it's online.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Restaurants--we get takeout once a week. I was ready to go out to eat a couple of weeks ago, but my husband is not.

Movie theaters--have no plans to return to one any time soon, but I felt that way pre-covid. So sick of people who can't stay off their phones for 2 hours.

Tourism--went to Orange Beach in June, but we barely spent any money there. Stayed with family. Had another trip planned that got canceled due to hurricanes.

Airlines--not getting on a plane anytime soon.

Things for the house--this is where I am spending money. We have several projects and have been making cosmetic changes like new furniture and rugs and curtains, etc.

taxi/Uber/Lyft-- nope. Only use them at WDW.

Bars--haven't been to one in many years.


I've done plenty of shopping online throughout this pandemic, but now we are shifting our focus to renovations. Since we canceled our LSU season tickets we've decided to put that money into our home.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Lord knows I'm trying. We eat out, vacation/fly, visit the doctor, dentist, nail/hair salon, and masseuse, Uber etc . We still utilize the same pre covid landscaping services...never stopped. Only big thing missing is the theater. There are no live shows and the movies playing now don't interest me.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Not doing my part, but don’t care. More concerned with getting through this terrible time healthy and alive. My husband is high risk. He is my priority. No restaurants, no extra curriculars, no movies, no travel, no haircuts, not even buying new clothing since we aren’t going anywhere.

I understand!
In my household, if one of the 3 of us adults were to get moderately to severely ill it would be a tremendous burden. So we do what we feel is best to avoid the chances.

 

[Colleen27]

Fascinating thread. Especially the number of references regarding Amazon orders.

I absolutely cannot say that my household is Amazon-free. We order from them. But the damage they have caused to the small local industries is undeniable. Large companies who pay little to no taxes are crushing local stores during this pandemic. Jeff Bezos grew his wealth by $48 BILLION from March to June this year.

Not saying this to shame anyone at all, and I know there are a lot of reasons sites like Amazon are necessary, but I wanted to highlight this so that maybe someone who is shopping online today will instead buy from a locally-owned store...

That's something we did early on. I'm not 100% Amazon-free - there are sometimes textbooks, like my daughter's out-of-print Italian workbook, that I can't find elsewhere, and we still keep Prime for the streaming service - but I have consciously shifted my online buying away from them in favor of smaller stores, buying from brands directly, and shopping locally. I haven't sworn off all major chains - Lowes and Best Buy will probably always get too much of my money, there being no local equivalent to either one in my area - but I'm thinking more about where I'm spending my money and what businesses I want to see survive the pandemic.

 

[DCLMP]

My spending habits are the same now as they were before the pandemic. As far as tourism goes were doing land trips instead of cruising. One of my goals this year was to spend less money eating out, but in order to help our local restaurants we've kept our eating out habits about the same.

 

[Darcy03231]

I need to do a better job. What about you?

restaurants. Mine is way down on the way it was before covid.

movie theater- haven’t seen a movie since they reopened in my area last month.With really nothing special didn’t feel like going.
regal going to close all its theaters in the USA on oct 8.

tourism- I’m doing ok here. Last month went to Hilton head. Dec going to wdw and universal.

airlines- flying in December for vacation

things for the house- need to do better. I did get a shed.

taxi/Uber/ Lyft- nothing from me so far but that’s normal.

bars- nothing from me but that’s normal.
we all must do what we can for the economy. i need to do better. So sad millions of people are out of a job

Restaurants - We still do take-out 1-2x a week. Haven't been in a restaurant since March.

Movie Theater - Never really went before the pandemic started.

Tourism - We've done a few local things. Nothing major. We did rent a house for our daughter's wedding in a resort area. I have booked cruises for 2022 and 2023.

Airlines - We haven't flown since September 2019, Because of our daughter's wedding this year, we decided not to travel. I did have a vacation booked to WDW that was canceled and I haven't rescheduled yet. Since DH is in a higher risk group we won't be traveling by air until a vaccine is available.

Taxi/Uber/Lyft - Never used them before so no change here.

Bars - Never went before so again no change here.

We would occasionally go to live entertainment venues for plays, comedians, concerts, etc. Nothing has reopened, but again I won't go until there is a vaccine. We have continued to patronize our local businesses for anything we need rather than order off-line if we can.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Don't feel safe sitting in restaurant yet but will order out but less than before. I do not agree completely safe to just go out and about as totally normal as this may seem to infer? May be better but not completely and seeing that cases are starting to rise again near me still being careful. Do go into some small local businesses. Did go into Lowes or HD for home improvement projects but didn't buy the amount of plants I usually do for Fall. I am getting my hair done now but less. We have an RV and are camping. As far as going on an airplane, not ready for that. Cruise oh heck no we would get sick on them before Covid lol.

 

[slpeters]

I work 40 hours a week. If my employer can't do something with that to stimulate the economy they probably don't deserve all those tax breaks they get...

 

[mrs. magoo]

We get take out 2 times a week - the same as before the shut down.
I have done 2 small projects in the house and we replaced our driveway.
I go to Target for aimless shopping once a month still.
We bought a new to us car in June.
I have 2 girls in college who are spending money in Erie and Rochester.
We went to the Adirondacks in August as that was our planned vacation this summer. Unfortunately we could not have all the people who were supposed to come but we ate out 2 more times than we planned to help the local people in Old Forge and Inlet.
I don't go to bars, movie theaters or use ubers.

I am trying to do my part since my husband and I are employed still.

 

[nycdisneygal]

Fascinating thread. Especially the number of references regarding Amazon orders.

I absolutely cannot say that my household is Amazon-free. We order from them. But the damage they have caused to the small local industries is undeniable. Large companies who pay little to no taxes are crushing local stores during this pandemic. Jeff Bezos grew his wealth by $48 BILLION from March to June this year.

Not saying this to shame anyone at all, and I know there are a lot of reasons sites like Amazon are necessary, but I wanted to highlight this so that maybe someone who is shopping online today will instead buy from a locally-owned store...

I am definitely making an effort to order from amazon less than before but its just not as easy especially since we do limit going to stores. of course whole foods is one of our outings....but i will try to do better.

 

[mrodgers]

None of the things people are listing is anything I did before anyways.

I didn't eat out at restaurants very often.

I need to take out a loan to go to the movie theater.

I flew on an airplane for the first time and last time on Sept. 11, 2002.

I stood in Washington DC with 100 other bicyclists after riding from Pittsburgh and when everyone was trying to figure out how to get 5 miles to the banquet after riding a bicycle for 84 miles and everyone already showered, most suggested Uber. I stated this country boy wouldn't have the first clue how to call an Uber. I did say that I could probably call John Deere or Massey Ferguson and have a couple hay wagons here within 15 minutes to take everyone, LOL.

Tourism, well, can't afford that too much and everything was closed or there were threats of everything being closed when we went on vacation, so all that was out early this year.

Bars, I don't frequent bars too much either, but by golly if I do, I will definitely order a plate of fries for everyone around me so we can suck the ketchup off of them. I certainly don't want to die just because I drank a beer without a french fry.

 

[godisney14]

Way, way down on hospitality, services, eating out, casual shopping (ie. clothes, decorations, etc).
A lot more grocery shopping at Costco, Amazon and home office tech items for work and kid’s school.

Net savings is higher. You never know what will happen with the economy in the next 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 months.

Talk about timing.
Didn’t expect today’s news about halting stimulus talks just a day after I posted the above.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Talk about timing.
Didn’t expect today’s news about halting stimulus talks just a day after I posted the above.

Once it wasn't done before the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30), it became almost certain to not happen. Too many folks on every side of the aisle had to go home and campaign, and bringing them all back for anything, let alone something that was likely to not be a unanimous vote, was pretty darn unlikely. I mean, the House is out of session til Nov 16, I think...

 

[adzfoster84]

Restaurants--We get take out a couple of times a week but no eating in a restaurant

Movie theaters--We rarely go without Covid but definitely have not been since Covid

Tourism-- We rented a house on a local lake for the weekend. Not sure if that is considered tourism though since it was only an hour away from home.

Airlines-- No flying for me. We usually fly a couple of times a year.

Things for the house-- We purchased a couple little things for the house like new lamp, decorations etc but no major purchases

taxi/Uber/Lyft-- Don't normally use them

Bars--We don't drink so I don't see much use in going to bars.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Doing my share at the grocery store! Not sure if it's just me or not but it seems that the cost of groceries is much higher then before the pandemic. We have not been going out to eat very much at all, cooking most every meal at home so that would be the reason I'm supporting the grocery store...

Movies are too expensive

Travel - haven't been anywhere since Feb of this year, not planning on going anywhere until Jan 2021 and we will be driving

Airlines - haven't flown in a couple of years

Things for the house - well all I can say is 2020 is one for the books, grandfather clock broke so had to get fixed, had to have new ac unit installed, had to sink $800 into fixing frige and dishwash broke so had to buy a new one...also had rain gutters installed and waiting on whole house generator to be installed. I'd say I'm doing my part...

Taxi/Uber/Lyft -- DH is my driver of choice

Bars - We do that at home, no need to go to a bar...

 

[FQLover]

Other than buying my DD19 her first car in May, which was a chunk of change, I have not done much.

We flew home from a short vacation to NOLA on March 8 and haven't gone anywhere since. Had planned on a trip to WDW in late July, along with a couple of long weekend trips here in the Midwest. Didn't get to do any of them.

Did do some carry out, three dinners inside a restaurant, and two dinners out on a patio, and that is it. I am high risk so I have decided not to do that too much anymore as the weather gets colder.

I have spent more on groceries in these last 7 months than I ever did before, which explains the 12 pounds I have put on, but that is about it. I am trying to save and save, actually, since I may suffer a big pay cut in February.