These are furloughs, not terminations. Some will be terminated, especially contractors and service jobs. You will have a job to go back to, hopefully soon. Government jobs are no longer "stable" and what our parents had. Time for people to rethink government jobs and make necessary plans.

Anonymous wrote:Excepted fed. I'm working but unpaid. I've significantly cut back on the extras - canceled cleaning service, hair appointment, lunches out, my child will sit out the next sessions of activities. For those who think its just a federal problem, I'm not spending money in anything other than essentials. It's the small businesses that are really being hurt by this.

+1. It's usually the innocent and powerless people who are hurt during war, including this kind of stupid "war."

Anonymous wrote:I am a nanny. Both of my bosses are furloughed. If this goes beyond mid-October I will be out of a job. There are slim pickings for quality nanny jobs right now, and the longer this goes on, the more competition there will be. I'm supposed to be getting married this spring, and our finances are already very tight. We are both recent grads, with student loans to pay.

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a big problem if this goes more than a few weeks, the layoffs of nannies. I am serious: our friends are in a nanny share, and of the four parents, two are feds (one furloughed, one exempt) and two are contractors (both still working for now, both with contracts set to be renewed in October and more than 50% likely to be out of a job). They have had this nanny for over 2 years, but if they can't pay her, they can't pay her. Eventually that's going to happen no matter how much savings people have, unless they are households that didn't rely on the incomes at all in the first place.

Excepted fed. I'm working but unpaid. I've significantly cut back on the extras - canceled cleaning service, hair appointment, lunches out, my child will sit out the next sessions of activities. For those who think its just a federal problem, I'm not spending money in anything other than essentials. It's the small businesses that are really being hurt by this.

I think 18:46 hit the nail on the head. We moved out of DC years ago and into the Boston area. None of our friends or family have been impacted (unless you could indirect minor annoyances). Our few friends in DC either don't work for the feds or are essential/exempt (I get them confused).

Single mom. Furloughed. So is ex. Thankfully I'm a saver anyway, so this should just be an exercise in managing cash flow. I was planning to make some larger purchases, so they're off the table for now.

The worst of it has been I've had a nasty virus for almost all of the shutdown, so I would have been home much of the time anyway.

Another two fed family, both furloughed.

The possible default has me more concerned than the furlough. I want to go back to work and I want our paychecks to resume, but I am more afraid of the long term ramifications for the country. I also feel that the President is absolutely correct here.

No, we haven't felt a thing in our household. But, we decided to brush up on our Chinese so we'll be prepared when the government defaults at the end of the month.

yes, I am furloughed and we are currently trying to get a mortgage but the loan application might get delayed because of the shutdown.

I am a nanny. Both of my bosses are furloughed. If this goes beyond mid-October I will be out of a job. There are slim pickings for quality nanny jobs right now, and the longer this goes on, the more competition there will be. I'm supposed to be getting married this spring, and our finances are already very tight. We are both recent grads, with student loans to pay.

Yep, it's affected our household. Both DH and I were affected. If this last more than a month we are going to have to pull DD out of daycare unfortunately.

Does the uncertainty make you more convinced and determined to find a private sector job?

I agree too. DC barely blinked during last few years. It bothered me because I could see the effects of the recession on my family and hometown. As a double fed household, we are concerned. We have savings, but not for this and a medical emergency or house repair if this goes till Xmas. No we can't diversify unless either of us give up our chosen professions in law enforcement and intelligence. Let's just hope this is over soon.

Not yet (unless you count DS's cancelled riding classes at Rock Creek Park Horse Center). If they let this default thing happen, though, I'm toast - finance sector.

I think some of the local restaurants are feeling it. I heard a guy at our very popular neighborhood restaurant asking the Takeout Taxi delivery guy whether they had been busy. He seemed pretty stressed.

Of course none of this compares to the two-fed families above, and my fed friends who were posting about how everyone in their offices were crying on the day of the shutdown and how some of the people at work had no savings (GS-7, etc.).

Anonymous wrote:The muted reactions are two-fold. 1) During the recession, when everywhere else in the country was in dire straits, DC was booming. There is little room for pity for DC losing a couple weeks worth of salary when their situations were much, much worse for years.

2) Except for a few areas of the country with a large number of feds (talking like CDC in Atlanta, big IRS centers, etc), DC might as well be a foreign country. Yes they read the headlines but what goes on here is so distant.

So I don't blame the kind of "meh" reaction. We here are all unique vested in it, others are not.

True.