Do you feel a sense of obligation to keep the economy moving?

[lmcconne]

I contribute by not defaulting on any financial obligations. Those who do, are dragging down the economy.

[Kristen.C]

DH and I feel pretty strongly about supporting local businesses, but that doesn't mean we don't still shop online or go to the chain grocers. Most of our grocery budget is spent at a locally owned natural foods market and, when it's open, the farmers market. But on the flipside, I still go to Costco and Trader Joe's to buy groceries, and you better believe I take on Superfresh when they offer triples.

Nine times out of ten when we go out to eat, it's at a locally owned place. We do this for many reasons, one being supporting the local economy and the people that live in our neighborhoods, another being that we find the quality of food, service, and atmosphere is so much better than chain restaurants, and lastly, we enjoy eating foods from a lot of different cultures and you can't really do that at chain places. But again, we do like to stop by Ruby Tuesday's for mini turkey burgers and the salad bar on occasion, and when we're in a hurry Panera is a Godsend.

There are other times when it's not practical to buy from a locally owned shop, most times the craft store is much more expensive than using a coupon at Michael's, and although the fabric shop sells lovely fabrics and yarn, I can't always justify the huge markup unless it's something that's been handmade.

There's something special about buying something directly from the person whose hands and heart went into its making. I'd much rather buy an apple directly from the family who grew the tree and harvested the fruit, soap from the artisan who milled it, and honey from the apiary down the road. Personal relationships like that are very important to me. I understand that my friends and neighbors are employed by the chains and big businesses. I have no problem with big business and I'm a firm believer in capitalism, but monetary cost isn't the only deciding factor when I make a purchase.

[thickbluebug]

I am buying more locally.
A few years ago I noticed my sil buying her gas at the mom and pops. She use to own one and told how much they lost to pump gas. Her store made it up with the convenience stuff inside. Now a days few go in and pay at the pump. So I consciously make an effort to buy what I can at the smaller stores. I do this within reason, after all I am a couponer.
Secondly, I try to spend my money closest to home. I figure even if it is a big box, or fast food chain, it's supporting the area because of taxes and employees.

[puakinikini]

I have always supported the local economy of where I have lived - I much prefer to shop at independent book stores, clothing boutiques, and small markets - but due to my current financial situation have done much less spending in 2008. I have concentrated on reducing our debt and paying off our cars. I am sure this will continue into 2009. I will be taking a pay cut soon and my DH had a period of unemployment earlier this year, so we are definitely watching our money.

I do feel an obligation to those service providers who we have had in our lives over many years. When my DH got laid off we had to let our once a month house keeper go, and that was very sad. She ended up returning to Mexico with her elderly mother. We kept the gardner as we have grass and it is difficult to maintain in this hot climate - but we have considered stopping that as well. Our gardner is like a family member to us - our kids love him - and we know he has struggled financially with the higher gas prices and customer decline - so we decided to not cut there. I also still go to my hairdresser every 4 months and take my DD with me - my hairdresser is a wonderful person, who has been a great friend.

But we are definitely watching our checkbook more closely (as we can't stand to look at any of our savings accounts!). I do worry about the effect on businesses - but do not feel like I am in a position to prop much. I would rather give what little money I do have directly to people rather than businesses.

[MaryMary]

I contribute by not defaulting on any financial obligations. Those who do, are dragging down the economy.

Agreed 100%. If a majority would follow this rule we wouldn't have that mess we are in right now.
Not long ago I listened on some talkshow the criteria of business survival: your business has to offer something different from the competitor, either price, service, product, etc. I do not feel compelled to support any business, local or not, if they do not have what I want, especially now when spending has to be watched more closely.

[jjrogers]

It is a false idea that the way out of a bad economy is to spend money we don 't have. For instance, if you are about to do bankrupcy, spending money on credit cards is not going to help you prevent bankrupcy, it will only make things worse. That is what our government is trying to do. They are trying to spend more money that they have to borrow. That means we will get stuck with a huge bill we can't pay off. I find it odd that they are doing all of these bailouts. What they should be doing is cutting costs. That is what we should all be doing. If we have any debt, we should be paying it off. Once your debt is paid off, then spending money YOU HAVE is okay and will help others. But it won't help the economy for everyone to get into more debt. The load of debt everyone including the government is carrying is what got us into this mess.

[Mom2my3sons]

We don't have enough money to help fix anything, not even our own shower that hasn't worked in over 5 years. We only have X amount of money. Yes we save what we can. We save it for later. Eventually it will all get spent and when it does it will help out at that time. If it gets spent in bad times it will give the tiniest boost up. If it gets spent in good times maybe it will keep the good times going.

I won't spend money I don't have, EVER. Spending money people don't have is what got us into this mess.

Now if I had a lot of money and didn't know what I was ever going to spend it on, yes, I would go out and blow some just for fun and to help things out.

[melodyjg]

We spend what we NEED to spend and that is it.....We are doing pretty good financially.....cars are paid off, home is paid off. But in current light of the situation our economy is in, we only spend what we need to spend...Yes we still go out and get our hair cut and mine colored at a salon but its my best friend and I won't change that....I buy clothes when I need them, kids or otherwise....Our big main expenditure for Christmas was buying laptops for our two boys but in reality other than some clothes that is all they got. So yes we still spend....But not on frivolous stuff only things we feel that we need.

We have cut our eating out to a couple of times a month, but every Saturday night we get Pizza @ Papa Murphy's and thats movie night!! Papa Murphy's is owned locally so we are supporting local in that sense..

So, yes in a way...some sense of obligation but only to a certain degree that if we need it we spend it!!