The friend I met for lunch has two big shopping trips planned for months. They are just over the horizon and she says she can barely sleep in anticipation. Both involve going abroad and splurging over two weekends, which she has never really done before, and having a skill for buying nice things that I have never seen matched elsewhere, this is manna from heaven for her.

Her pre-trip excitement is being curtailed by one who is more realistic and grounded in the current and worrying economic environment: her husband. "Have you not heard about 'R and R'?" he said to her, staring down her giddiness and shrouding his words in a cloak of doom before putting on his best Darth Vader voice with the words "recession and redundancy".

Economic downturn, slowdown, re-adjustment, recession, have got everyone by the goolies. Even my career-shopper friend was forced to reassess her spending capabilities in the face of uncertain times. For others, of course, recession is more real, and those panicked faces of Lehman Brothers staff, carrying their belongings from their offices last week, showed the raw end of the credit crunch at its most vicious.

For months, redundancies and job losses have become a reality for thousands in Ireland, but for those unaffected, news that jobs are on the way out can easily appear as a bland headline to be skimmed over. The Lehman Brothers story seemed to hit home like a sledgehammer. These were well-paid high fliers, living a life of privilege but now forced to run into the office to shove their personal belongings into cardboard boxes before heading home to figure out how to pay the bills.

The message is now crystal clear. This could happen to anyone.

The knock-on effects of the collapse mean many a small business which relied on Lehman's wealthy staff for their livelihood now face an uncertain future. A woman who walks dogs for a living posed for a photograph with a very worried look on her face as she told how her clients were not just cancelling their appointments, but some were giving away their dogs altogether to save cash. The woman who provided fitness training for the stressed Lehman staff has had her client base obliterated in one fell swoop.

The pain suffered by highly paid executives who have to forgo the dog walker or trainer will be cold comfort to others who have lost jobs but have less lofty expectations and more pressing needs. The raft of bad news over the last week or so has forced us all to consider what would have to go if the monthly pay cheque was suddenly stopped.

How would you pay the mortgage with no salary lodgement to direct debit at the end of every month? Who would stump up for the ESB, the gas, the phone bill – the food bills? The cleaner would have to go along with the childminder, not to mention the appointments with the hairdresser, which seemed like a necessity in times of plenty, but quickly become a frivolous luxury.

Falling markets, crumbling companies and yet more job losses mean it is take stock time for all of us. Unless of course you are a semi-professional shopper with two big trips on the horizon, in which case, worrying about the alternative meaning of 'R and R' is something which can be delayed – at least until the credit card is maxed out one last time.