Wal-Mart pharmacy.  As controversial as it is, their $4 scripts save lives.  Yes, they're using the pharmacy as a "loss leader" to get people into the store.  But it's good business and good for the community.

Buy bulk and freeze.  My family and I do this when we can - saving 50-90 cents a pound on ground beef and the like.

Plan and prep meals ahead of time to save cooking time, and energy.  It also lets you make 1-2 trips to the store a month instead of several small ones.  Plan all your shopping for 1 or 2 days in the month, if you have the energy.

Get an energy audit of your home - most power companies will do this for free - and you can see where you are hemorrhaging money on your power bill.

Carpool, use community resources (like the bus or specialized transport) and walk when you can.

Remember that you are not alone - resources, help, support - all are available with a phone call or a mouse click.

Without making light of the suffering, as we're all feeling the 'pinch,' I'm remembering that people lived through the great depression. I wouldn't tell them that to make them feel better, but it can act as a way of putting things into perpective. I'm not sure, you psych people weigh in here.

We all hurt, i'd say, that carpool to the store more, to work more, there is inexpensive fun (like hanging over the back fence or sitting on the porch talking to your neighbor.

It's amazing how much less we can get by on. I'm thinking most of us feel that it's imperative to have 2 cars for a 2 adult family. It's very possible that they are needed, but what if all of a sudden you had to make do with one? Be creative and think of what it might mean if you returned to carpooling or dropping your husband off at the bus stop. Does your 17  year old son REALLY have to have a car? Boys that age are trmendously expensive to insure.

We live in a 4 bedroom house; maybe this is an area where you can downsize. Do we (there's only the 2 of us and our dog). So, this week we move to a  3 bedroom home. Still a bedroom for us, another for when you come to visit and another we can use as a den.

Best thing I can say is to get creative and really wrap your brain around solutions to making YOUR life work better. What works for the goos, may not work for the gander. Like the Wal-Mart meds. None of the ones I take, are on their list!