For nearly two years, my responsibilities in the privately owned advertising company have been to design and organize annual conferences and evening parties for enterprises and social groups. I did a great job, and that's why I was promoted to the manager's position. But things have taken a turn for the worse since the financial crisis broke out in the Western world and leaked into China.

I have handled only eight events in the past two months, compared with 12 in the same period last year. Many enterprises have trimmed their budgets or even cancelled their plans for conferences and parties. Some of our regular clients are also asking for discounts. On the contrary, our budget for performers at the parties has been rising, depressing our profits.

Although its other revenue sources have stayed largely intact, the company is facing mounting financial pressures. As a result, my colleagues and I have seen drops in our bonuses, although we are still free of the risk of being fired.

But shrinking income has never been a reason for me to think twice before splurging on clothes and cosmetics. I have no housing loans or auto loans and have seldom thought about saving. The pressure from work has been pressing enough. So why can't I treat myself better?

For the upcoming Spring Festival, I am not going back home to Sichuan Province but plan to stay with my aunts in Shanghai. The air ticket is too expensive. But, surely, I will give my parents more gift money than last year.

Spending More on　Electronics

Wang Xiao, 27, a civil servant in Beijing

My shopping plan this year is to spend more than last year, as this Spring Festival, besides going back to my own hometown, I will also visit my boyfriend's home. I need to buy presents for my parents, his parents and other family members. Since my boyfriend's birthday is during the festival holiday, I will also buy a present for him. The planned budget for buying gifts is 3,000-4,000 yuan ($439-585). After I get home, I want to buy a computer for my mother to surf the Internet and play simple games. The computer may cost about 5,000 yuan ($731). I myself will buy a digital camera to replace the old one, with a planned budget of 2,500 yuan ($365).

The economic crisis seems to be having no effect on me. In the past, I always have worried about the train tickets to get home before the Spring Festival. This year, my boyfriend bought a car, so we will certainly drive home. The total expense of driving home and back is about 1,500 yuan ($220), while it would cost each of us about 800 yuan ($117) by train.

We will have the family reunion dinner at home. It's the custom of our family for my father to cook the reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve.

Affordable Employment

Deng Xiaosong, 30, Marketing Director of the venture-funded　video-sharing website　Pomo-ho.com

We are not going to spend much during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday. We will visit some friends and relatives in Beijing, take my 21-month-old baby to see the animated film Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf and take my parents and parents-in-law to watch some Peking opera performances at the Mei Lanfang Grand Theater. My parents, born and educated in Beijing, have moved back from Yinchuan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region when they retired several years ago. We have no travel plans this holiday because we have a baby and four parents. It's not convenient to travel in chilly winter for such a big family like ours. We will have no major purchases during the holiday other than buying the baby new clothing.

We are not affected by the financial crisis because we have no investments in the capital market and seldom buy luxury items. We believe in prudent spending and buy only items that we can afford. We have a car and an apartment of 90 square meters. It has enough room for a busy couple, because our parents don't live with us and my husband's parents are taking care of the baby during weekdays.

However, the crisis has made us consider saving more for the baby's future education and buying a larger home a little earlier because housing prices have dropped. I'm not worried about unemployment. The family can afford it if either of us becomes jobless for several months. China's video-sharing websites in general are costly and not yet profitable, because advertising revenues can't cover their high server and bandwidth costs. Unlike other sites, Pomo-ho.com is fortunate to have promised venture capital investments keep coming in as scheduled. The company hasn't cut any departments or services up to now.

A Frugal Spring Festival

Li Haifang, 30, an employee at a state-holding bank in Beijing

I will go back to my hometown to spend the Spring Festival with my family, because I still adhere to the traditional idea that we should see our parents during the Spring Festival for a family reunion. I didn't buy anything for myself for the Spring Festival since I have enough skincare products and clothes. But I spent 1,000 yuan ($146) on buying clothes for my two sisters' children and will give 200 yuan ($30) in gift money to each of them. I think we should show our filial respect to our parents. My parents don't need my money now, and they hope I can save some money to buy my own apartment. So I will give the money that I usually give to my parents to the children of my sisters instead.