Slow at Work and our Weak Economy

The economy sucks right now.

And it's affecting my job. Big time.

Three weeks ago, I had about 30 hrs of billable work. Two weeks ago, I had about 10 hrs of billable work. Last week, it was 5. And this week is just as bleak with about 5 again.

Now that, people is scary. One of the bigger accounts I work on just pulled out of a big show for next month and some small ones as well. I bill my work at a hundred bucks an hour, with a 40 hr work week and we need to be at 80% for the week. It's not looking so good for me when you look at those statistics!

However, when there is no work to be had, you can't exactly blame me for not billing at full capacity. After all, the sales people have to bring the work in, right? And our regular clients go to the same shows over and over every year, so there is always a busy time and a slow time in our year.

But I'm worried because it's never slow at this time of the year. Hopefully our company won't decide to tighten it's belts over the next few months and it starts to pick up. Because when I have nothing to do, I get to work on internal projects and even though it fills the time, it's not my favorite work to be doing. I've made it through three layoffs here at Star so far. If there are any forthcoming in the next year, I hope to be spared.

Target and Best Buy just decided to do a bunch of layoffs Friday and today there are hundreds with out a job. Even one of my good friends has been out of work for over a year and I'm anxious for her that things will work out or she finds something. Because you can't live on unemployment forever. If I or Ben did lose our job, we'd be all right for a little while, but we'd have to make a lot of sacrifices. I don't know if I'd recover emotionally or be able to find something in the same industry. I don't even know if I'd want to. My dream job would be to own a bookstore or work at the library, but it probably wouldn't pay the bills.

And you notice the little things too, especially in our small town. Such as all the homes for sale when your going through the neighborhood. Our favorite family grocery store just closed it's doors right after Christmas and I was shocked and saddened to know they are gone. There are endless amounts of retail space available for prospective businesses. People aren't going to the movies, the Target lot is emptier. Where are all the good deals at stores, the grocery stores, etc? We ourselves have cut out going to eat at Jimmy Johns every Saturday and I'm making food for lunches every day. I barely even eat out to begin with, but it saves. When I need a small item at the store, I wait until I need many items instead of going to buy one so I'm not overspending on other items. I waited until my next paycheck to get my contacts and pay cash for them, even though I normally would have put them on the credit card. All of those things hurt the economy and when you not only have my family but countless others doing the same thing, it adds up.

So at this time of uncertainty, I'm trying to keep busy at work with a lot of small projects and staying under the radar. And in my paranoia over losing my job or getting laid off, I'm saving money like mad. Which is impressing my husband no doubt, since I'm typically the one with no financial sense AT ALL. It's not what the economy needs, but it sure it instilling good habits for me. Because there is nothing worse than the thought of losing my home or seeing my children go hungry. I could never imagine living in an apartment with kids, even for a day. The thought scares the shit out of me and that is my driving force for saving up. You know, just in case.