76% of Adults are Making Lifestyle Changes to Prepare for a Potential Recession

[spectre71]

Big white elephant.

It's caused by the bumble fucks who elected the buffoons into office.

If we had a real president none of this would of happen. It's a situation created to hurt people on purpose. Just follow the facts.

[meser#]

In my country people suffered from high inflation lately. Therefore they changed their behaviour more than usual. Normally one family could afford kilos of vegetables and fruits weekly but nowadays it's really hard to afford it for most of them. Some of them wait to closing time of bazaar and they collect from bazaar area. These are most likely considered bad product from the seller and they left it as trash. In my country people already ready for the recession even they made a lot exercise 

[Die_empty]

I won't say that today is too late to change our lifestyle and start saving, but all those who didn't realize that they needed to take some of the steps from OP at least one or even two years ago are facing a very difficult challenge. Given the inflation that has realistically increased the price of many basic products by at least 20% (and much more), how will someone manage to save anything when there is not enough even for basic living expenses?

Immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic, it was glaring that this would never be the same again. My income was no longer enough to take care of the family. I discussed it with my family and we agreed that we needed o make some costly adjustments. We had to move from our house which was located in an expensive area to a cheaper one.

When we compared my wife's salary as a teacher and the amount we spend on children's school fees, we discovered our children can get quality homeschool education if my wife resigns from her job and we would save more money. We had to get the necessary permission from the government and today we are homeschooling them.

The family has also substituted expensive imported products with cheaper local food. We are also planting vegetables on our land and raising some local birds, just to cut expenses.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

• Dual-income families should save at least 3 months’ worth
• Single earners should put aside 6 months or more
• Entrepreneurs should set aside 1 year of expenses

Those recommendations are nothing new at all, except I've never seen the time frames broken down like that.  Usually I see that everyone should have 6 month's worth of cash set aside for emergencies, and that seems reasonable.  I'd think even dual-income households should put that much away, assuming they can afford to.

Me?  I'm not doing much of anything to prepare for a recession, but that's only because I've got so little money to work with.  But for argument's sake, if I did I'd be stocking up on non-perishable foods and other household consumables (like shampoo, soap, and the like) to hedge against inflation.  And I'd do that right now, because inflation is already getting bad.  Christ, a little thing of cream cheese is over $5, and that's outrageous!

[el kaka22]

I have made a good amount of change in my lifestyle because of inflation already, don't know if I can handle recession following this as well. It is a bad period to be in, and I feel like it’s not going to really end well for me neither. It’s going to be obviously a hard period for all humanity, but it’s not just economically bad neither, it’s going to be psychologically bad too.

I am going to end up with both living a smaller lifestyle because of this period, but it’s going to be psychologically hard to just live poorer and poorer to make sure that I am not in big debt. How smaller can we get? I earn a decent amount and yet still not live a comfortable life.

[Viscore]

Well we had pretty much 3 recessions since 2000. So people learnt that they obviously aren’t fun.
Many occupations get affected, maybe doctors is one that isn’t affected but many jobs are not recession proof.

So people are holding back and preparing which is smart. Very crazy how back in 2000 and 2008, everybody was caught by surprise but now everybody is preparing for the recession. The way it’s looking it seems there might not even be a recession.

People have no choice actually but to face the truth that the world is set to experience another economic recession in the years to come and that people should always be ready for it, otherwise we will all suffer from poverty and starvation. And for me, that would be better to change our lifestyle from a luxurious one to a simple and plain one. After all, we don’t need everything in the world, we just need to be happy and satisfied in everything we have.

[lalabotax]

According to a new survey, three-quarters(76%) of U.S. adults are delaying big purchases and reducing debts since they are worried about an impending economic downturn. Below is the summary of the findings:

• 24% are allocating more income to savings

-snip-
In addition, from a personal standpoint, investing in a cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin, acts as a buffer against the harsh realities of a recession.

Do you mean more people will invest in crypto because it won't be influenced by the recession?
If more people prefer to focus on savings, they will decrease the allocation for investment. People know that investment doesn't guarantee profits, especially crypto investment. It will risk their money if they put more of their money in crypto. Except they put their money in stable coins. But I doubt if they won't spend more in crypto during the recession.
 

[goaldigger]

It’s good to know that many already preparing for this and taking this seriously because in my country, they are still not planning and their spending habits are still the same. Personally, I’m already working with my emergency funds, I also delay some of major purchases and major renovation because I know, my country would be on the of the country to be more affected by the recession and increasing inflation rate. Paying loans right now is ideal, the interest continue to increase, you might also be affected by this if you delay paying it.

[Coyster]

Please share your personal experiences on how people in your country are preparing for or dealing with a recession.

Well, in my country i'd say we're already in a recession, it is pretty bad and quite a lot of things have become unaffordable, especially for the common individual, i don't think citizens in my country had any special preparation for this, and now that we are in a dire situation, people are basically just seeking diverse other ways to make an additional income for themselves, but there is another problem, and that's unemployment, which is quite high over here, thus over the past few years in my country i've noticed an increase in the desire of individuals to get themselves acquainted with one skill or the other, and to learn more about the digital market and how they can channel it to be productive for them.

Having said that, personally nothing changed for me, i've always lived a frugal life, i hardly buy more than what is necessary, and i take saving and long term investment quite seriously, thus i don't really have that much cutting down on things to do, i'll just keeping doing things as i've always done and hope my investments are ripe in year's to come.

[romero121]

If government were able to recover the unaccounted money out of the politicians accounts, then this recession could be easily handled. What we see is a cyclic process. If there is no such recession people forget about the real value of money.

At some part of the world the recession have made a big impact. Being prepared will let us overcome the unexpected with ease. According to me, even if we're prepared we're gonna experience hard days as it is predicted to last longer time period.

[lovesmayfamilis]

They always say that you get used to good things very quickly, and it is almost impossible to break the habit. But it sounds beautiful for wealthy people. In 2008, when the crisis was raging, my brother living in America wrote that he felt that instead of 5 sneakers for his son, he was forced to buy 3 or 4. 
Today, times have become tougher, but people who had the previous experience have already been able to change. Yes, products are becoming more expensive; gasoline, gas, and so on; but we must come to terms with the fact that it will be for a long time, and as it was before, it will no longer be. Therefore, everything that is characteristic of a person, namely, adapting to forced conditions, should not cause panic, but, on the contrary, be a source of motivation for further development.

[pawanjain]

That is actually a good thing because prevention is better than cure. It's better to prevent the mishappenings due to recession rather than feeling guilty later.
Whether a recession happens or not, the steps taken now to prevent it will only benefit us in the next few months.
I would say it's better to have at least a year's expenses worth savings aside just in case things go haywire.

[kryptqnick]

I am surprised, to be honest, that the vast majority is trying to prepare. I thought the majority wouldn't do much because of being unable to do that. I must say, the choises the Americans make aren't fully understandable to me, though. A home or a car is usually a kind of thing people buy because they feel the need for it, not as a whim. And if a person now has the money for such a purchase, why not make it before the prices skyrocket and inflation makes the money less valuable? As for debts, I think it depends on whether it's adjusted to inflation or not. I remember hearing that some deals in the US are actually fixed and aren't adjusted to inflation, so starting a mortgage before the inflation hits can actually be a way to win.

[DudeAtWork420]

These data clearly show a recession ahead. But the more people stop spending and start saving the worsen it will be. Less expense means less GDP. In the meantime, most people don't know how they will deal with the energy price hike in Europe. Many still talking about upcoming food shortages because of the disruption of food supply from Russia and Ukraine.

[erep]

People are now applying adjustment and saving as much as they could so dealing with the recession in the future won't be hard. We can't blame them for changing their lifestyle because everything is rising and getting expensive nowadays. We have to leave some of the things that we used to do and focus on more valuable things just to save for the future which is a good move. If we'll live a luxurious life now, we might lose the chance of preparing for the future crisis.

I have to prioritize financial management for savings before the hardest recession, we have to reduce spending on secondary needs and even have to cut primary needs due to preparing for the crisis before the recession occurs. Countries already experiencing the worst of the recession have created panic because they have no savings for emergency needs, they even reduce their consumption of basic foods just to pay electricity bills. So it's a valuable experience from other countries that we have to increase our savings for emergency purposes before the recession.

[samcrypto]

These data clearly show a recession ahead. But the more people stop spending and start saving the worsen it will be. Less expense means less GDP. In the meantime, most people don't know how they will deal with the energy price hike in Europe. Many still talking about upcoming food shortages because of the disruption of food supply from Russia and Ukraine.

Many already know what will happen during the recession and that’s why they take actions ahead of time and they know if they become more complacent and continue to spend that much, problems may occur later on. Recession will happen, it’s just a matter of time and it’s not too late yet to prepare for that. I do save some already and continue to lessen my expenses, this may be hard but we have to start now.

[Rengga Jati]

The recession really has a tremendous effect, especially in certain countries. This affects many parties, not only people who already have heavy dependents but also young people who also have to give up their pleasures a little. In fact, the consequences of this recession are unavoidable, everyone has to face it, somehow. Rearranging finances, controlling excess activity especially just for temporary pleasure, trying to get income from other sources of income, and others. I see many people complaining because their income is fixed while expenses are very high and increase due to rising costs and prices of any kind. And when you want to get additional income, it is not as easy as we expect.

Indeed this is not easy, but it is very necessary, especially on this one point:

• 28% are planning to reduce holiday spending

[Hydrogen]

While I can't be proud of my results. I have made efforts towards becoming more self sufficient since 2017. Its common for me to say its good for people to rely less on corporations and governments. Being reliant has been a big issue in recent times. As reliance on natural gas and other things has been revealed to be means of applying leverage to push agendas. Not wanting to be hypocritical there has been an effort made to follow through on things.

Over the last 5 years I tried to look at ways I'm reliant or dependent on outside people for things and tried to find alternatives. The basic themes are mundane things like: transportation, food, energy, water, home defense & security. Most of it is research based. Everyone would like to improve their circumstances. Most would not know where to start. Information and knowledge play big roles. Trial and error is also a factor.

I always looked at poverty outside of the US as america's future and thought all of the issues foreigners have abroad would someday find their way to american shores. That makes things easy.

[AmoreJaz]

The recession really has a tremendous effect, especially in certain countries. This affects many parties, not only people who already have heavy dependents but also young people who also have to give up their pleasures a little. In fact, the consequences of this recession are unavoidable, everyone has to face it, somehow. Rearranging finances, controlling excess activity especially just for temporary pleasure, trying to get income from other sources of income, and others. I see many people complaining because their income is fixed while expenses are very high and increase due to rising costs and prices of any kind. And when you want to get additional income, it is not as easy as we expect.

Indeed this is not easy, but it is very necessary, especially on this one point:

• 28% are planning to reduce holiday spending

during pandemic and the long lockdown experienced by almost all people in the world, many of us had the chance to contemplate on many things in life. and this catapulted to change of lifestyle to many people. many people change their priorities in life and live simply. i guess, this recession won't be hard to many of us now as we experienced a lot of setbacks in the past couple of years. and learned what are the important things in life that we can devote on.

[Mauser]

In addition, from a personal standpoint, investing in a cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin, acts as a buffer against the harsh realities of a recession.

Please share your personal experiences on how people in your country are preparing for or dealing with a recession.

I am not sure if more people are preparing for the economic recession or rather for the inflation. In my country we had close to 0% interest rates for more than 10 years and had no high inflation for almost 40 years. Most people don't even know about the risks high inflation can have on personal savings and living costs. That is why a lot of my friends had a bad awakening since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. With both food prices and energy prices rising sharply I think that everybody I know changed their spending habits this year. Most large purchases like a new car or renovating the house/apartment have been moved into 2023 or 2024. And with grocery shopping it became more important to look for promotions and buying in large bundles. We have a big supermarket that sells goods in large quantities for all the small restaurants. You need a special membership for it, but its free and easy to get. Before the crisis  nobody went there, and now almost everybody I know is now shopping there at least once a month.