The economy to me personally

Since we had no investment in the stock market and no 401K and we are not trying to sell our home, we didn't feel the affects of the hurting economy. But now it's getting personal.

The vacant home next door that has been on and off the market for the last 6-9 months is now in foreclosure. That means our home value will drop and our chances of getting an appraisal to reflect our improvements and drop our PMI are shot. (However, I don't see why we are getting taxed on a higher value than what we paid/what it was appraised for when we bought it. I know that upon purchase, they appraise it only to say that it is worth as much as we are buying it for, but they don't give a higher amount. Still, based on what we are being taxed for, we are awfully close to the 20%.) So, the silver lining is, logically (although I don't know in reality), if our property value goes down, so will our property tax.

However, I'd rather pay that property tax because: Since public schools are funded by property tax, schools are facing a huge deficit. They announced (conveniently after Black Friday) that the $500 retention bonus they usually give teachers at Christmastime has been retracted. There is also a freeze on salaries; no one gets a raise next year. We haven't already spent the $500 but we were counting on it to get bigger presents or start saving for unforeseen expenses. Ah, it's not that bad. Just not as good as we expected.

This does mean, however, I will be returning my Christmas gift since it is not necessary, only something nice (expensive bedding that matches my new bedroom curtains). I will also not be getting Rex what I'd hoped to get him (a 12-month membership to Massage Envy) but he'd already told me he'd feel too guilty spending that much on himself every month. Rex is thinking about returning the sleeping bag he'd been wanting for years and finally has an excuse to buy (scouts), but I think he should keep it. I think I will do without a special night out for our birthdays/anniversary and settle for something simple like a candlelight dessert by the fire after the kids go to bed. We'll just get each other little presents and I think our birthdays/anniversary will, like so often, be lumped with Christmas. The kids' presents are already bought and wrapped. I'm glad we bought a fake Christmas tree a few years ago on the 50% off after-Christmas sale because someone said it now costs $60 for a real one! If that's true, the price has increased even more since the last time we bought one.

Christmas aside, the retraction of the bonus really makes me worry because it might signify more. Like I said, teaching is not a "recession proof" profession. I would suspect a lot of teacher will get axed at the end of the school year, and, since they're already looking down the barrel at Rex, I worry he will not be able to redeem himself to save his job. I suppose here, the silver lining is something along the lines of when your employer treats you badly, it's sometimes a good thing you get kicked out (like when I got fired when my boss at that awful travel agency found out I was pregnant).