With the American economy plummeting down the drain, many families are looking to tighten up their budgets in order to survive these financial hardships. Even for the holidays.
Many of EC’s students and their families are finding it difficult to afford anything because their parents still make the same amount of money while the prices of certain items in stores continue to increase. Students say things that were affordable last year, don’t seem to be as affordable as this year.
With their monthly mortgage and property tax bill at an all-time high, Mike Nakamaru, business major said that his family is looking to cut down expenses during the holidays. Like many families across the country, Nakamaru, 24, said that his family is in debt due to housing loans and can barely make it by therefore trying their best to save money even if it meant not buying Christmas gifts fore others.
“The Christmas list will definitely be shorter this year,” Nakamaru said. “My parents and I have already talked about it and instead of doing the usual buy this and buy that approach for everyone, it will be just for a short amount of people.”
Nakamaru is a waiter at a restaurant and with the economic crisis, it is not helping out his tip amount at the end of the day. With the limited amount of customers who choose to save rather than spend and eat out at restaurants, Nakamaru said it has left a hole in his pocket.
“How am I going to make lots of tips (tip money) when people barely eat out?”, Nakamura asked. “I don’t have a lot of money either so my Christmas list will definitely be short.”
For last year’s Christmas, many students went out of the country to be with their families in order to spread the holiday cheer. But for this Christmas season, Sachiko Ohara, 19, fashion design major, said that the holidays for her family will not be as cheery as last year. Her family made a trip to Okinawa, Japan for a family reunion and spent a lot of money during the trip. It didn’t help that when she came back from the two-month trip, bills were stacked high by her mailbox which she had to pay from her savings account.
“I don’t usually touch my savings account but I had no other alternative,” Ohara said. “I was going to borrow money from my family but they were as broke as I was and they had more bills to pay for like I did so that definitely didn’t help out.”
With the expensive trip they spent last year, Ohara’s family will just be staying home this year for a good old-fashioned Christmas dinner.
“Just with friends and family, turkey and eggnog, that’s about it,” Ohara answered when asked what she will be doing for Christmas this year. “Were broke right now so we can’t really go anywhere, and our Christmas list is not as long as last year’s. We want to save up.”
Uncertainty for the holidays has never been an issue for the family of biochemistry major, Joseph Oh. Last year’s Christmas was called, “the best ever” by Oh as he received multiple presents. He was given an XBOX 360 game system along with four games from his parents, a Nintendo Wii from his grandparents, and money from his uncles and aunties. What a difference a year makes for Oh, as the economic crisis has hurt the financial status of his family and his hopes for this year’s Christmas.
“Because of the economy and everyone wanting to save, I don’t even know if I’ll get anything this year,” Oh said. “Last year, I got a (xbox) 360, a (Nintendo) wii and a lot of money. But this year, I don’t even think I’ll get anything. I’ll be happy with a candy cane for crying out loud.”
This year’s Christmas for Marco Badillo’s family will be a sad one to say the least. Badillo, 21,architect major, said that since his father was laid-off his job last month along with the 200,000 Americans that lost their job in October, it will be hard to have a good Christmas.
“My father was the provider of the family,” Badillo said. “My mom works at a grocery store and that is not enough to make ends meet. My dad is just receiving unemployment checks now, it’s really tough.”
Last year, Badillo’s family took a cruise to Alaska along with his uncle’s family to celebrate Christmas. But this year, Badillo said that it is sad since they will just be staying home and not sure if they will be receiving presents from their parents.
“It is sad, really,” Badillo said. “To not receive presents from my family is something that I never thought would happen but this is reality and I just have to accept it.”
With the economy in a downward spiral and families looking to tighten their belts, this Christmas/holiday season will not be the most memorable one unlike last year.
“Its depressing, Ohara said,” Aside from our family, what about those little boys and girls that want something for Christmas and their families can’t provide it? That’s just sad.”
