How has your life changed in the past few months? How do you keep your head up?

We were not doing too bad until my son's surgeries. My husband is back to work, finally. Hopefully we can catch up, and my son has no more setbacks.

its been rough these months hubby got laid off but now he got a job with law enforcement so hopefully things will look up all we are doing now is playing catch up on our bills that we couldnt pay while he wasn't working an the late fees are killing us

It is really just hard times right now. We have to look for a New house well, another House, I have to get car fixed or by another one, yes now ma days you do have to have two Jobs, for a minute I had three jobs, I don't have any now. but I will start looking first i have to get me another Car. the Economy is bad right now. people are losing there jobs, and House and it is just bad for everyone right now.

honestly speaking, not so much for us here on the other side of the world, in asia. We are use to this kind of crises , we have been experiencing these economic reality since the 80's , so i guess we are use to keep on tightening our belt and learn how to make use of what we have. We, Filipinos ,are very resilient people. We take things on a stride. would you believe that we still can afford to have night outs every week! You know the difference between your economic structure and ours? most of you use credit , most of us here use cash. You invest your money on speculations (stocks and money market), we invest it on what we need for the moment and save some on a bank for emergency. we still stick to the basics, we save to buy what we need and want, we make use with what we have which is to purchase things in cash. in spite of adversities, which we are use to, we still find the time for what really matters.

Hey momma! You have the right attitude! That is about all that we can have at this point and time! I am helping my bf find another job too! He works in a college cafeteria cleaning up and they close for the summer. He gets a few hours a week and we just can't live on that. I am disabled right now so I am trying to find ways to make money too. It is not easy for us to manage either. We try to work together. That's about all we can do! It is very stressful!

well my life took a turn for the worst in november when i came home form town and my house was on fire and they couldnt save it i also lost my beloved black lab in the house she was old yeah but we raised her from a puppy then in december my car tore up well come to find out i need a motor for it and i live on a fixed income and it is now april still no car and no money to fix it $1200 total for it and there are things going on in my personal life i would rather not talk about. so i ts very hard for me to kleep my head and eyes off the ground.

When I got fired in September, I figured I'll get unemployment and get back on the saddle again; WRONG. I was denied it; I lost faith in folks, I tried to get another job but the recession was hitting us then; I still havent until now. I got a parttime one coming up hopefully. And at this time I am grateful for it; What kept me going? well, I am not one to lose my head; I was hurt, crushed that folks would sit and let folks be destitute but its not them; whats it to them? I would have to say that God kept me until now; He really did.

Honestly speaking, I don't know how I'm doing it. Simply by putting one foot in front of the other I guess. It seems like I'm always behind on everything and most days I feel like I'm losing the war. There isn't much I can do about it though, except keep going, no matter what and so that is what I do. I get pretty depressed and often think its just me, but then I read posts such as yours and know its not. I'm not happy anyone is going through hard times, but its a little easier knowing I'm not alone.

we have been struggling financially like so many others but i cashed in my small retirement account and i am going to pay off 3 credit cards today and then transfer a balance on another to a 0% interest card and just keep on keeping on. i already work 3 part time jobs from home and my husband is self employed so we do all we can to help ourselves. i no longer food shop weekly. we use up what we have and do without the rest. we buy nothing unecessary and no longer use our credit cards. i get stuff from freecyle whenever possible and i am having a garage sale the end of the month. you do what you have to do.

I think it's affected most people that I know in the same way. We spend twice as much on groceries then we used to and get half the food. It's crazy. I just try to stay positive and hope for the best.

My life has changed dramatically since the finanical crisis started in Sep last year. My hubby is a finanical planner and his career was suddenly affected by the crisis. All my hubby and I can do is to keep working, and think positively. I was worried a lot at the beginning, but later I found that I was suffering if I was only worried but not thinking positively. I think it keeps my spirit up when I keep working hard and don't have time to think badly.

I've been living on my own for a few years now and I've been working mostly for myself. However, for the past couple of months, everything has changed. My parents lost their jobs, and so did my younger brother, and my aunt who lives with us along with her two toddlers and one other high schooler cousin of mine who I'm helping out with his education. So, at the moment, I'm the only one with a job. But the transition from working-for-yourself to working-for-your-family was really challenging. It's kinda hard to make both ends meet for all of us. I believe I've become more matured and more responsible when it comes to almost everything because of my situation. I've lessened spending for my 'wants', instead, I've started thinking about my family's 'needs'. Even my mom had a hard time changing status in life: from being 'well-off' to becoming 'dependent' on me.. and somehow, the added pressure is too much to handle. I'm just glad that God's with us. ^_^

It is has been so very hard to maintain. We have to really make a little bit of money last a long time. What helps me though is that I was living in a homeless shelter about this time last year. With my husband and four children. Just knowing that I was able to make it through that gives me hope that I can make it through this. It is hard, but I know it could be worse. And talking to others who are going through similar situations helps because we encourage each other.