What if you only needed your car for that occasional trip to the grocery store? Suppose your livelihood depended on what you did right there on your own property, every day?

You sure could live cheaper, that’s for sure. You could raise chickens and sell the eggs. Get enough chickens and enough market and you’d need nothing else.

Some folks raise goats for both the mild and the meat. The idea is to aim for the basic needs. Food is a huge basic need.

Living in a more desert territory, I would have to supplement the diet with feed from the farm and ranch supply. I sat down one day and ran the figures. With 100 laying hens, I could pay for their feed and still bring in over $300 per month profits. Imagine if I had 300 laying hens.

I don’t mean a barn with cooped up chickens. I’m talking about ranging chickens who are healthy and happy. Of course, with 100 hens, you’d need at least an acre of ranging space.

When the economy takes a nose dive, it’s those who grow their own, who will survive, much the same as at any other time. That is, of course, unless they have loans to pay on the property.

The more you can do on your own, to cut out that item on the weekly list, the more self sufficient you become.

Just gardening and canning can take a huge bite out of that grocery bill. That’s something you can do and still drive yourself to a job, every day.

You can learn how to sew and learn how to cut costs on clothing.

It all seems like a lot of work but the truth is, when you set aside time slots for these things, it can happen easier than you think.

Today, people rely way too much on others to supply their needs. Suppose the fuel got too expensive and half the trucks stopped running because of it. Who will still have plenty to eat? The guy with the garden and the woman who cans.

Flour can keep for ages, in the freezer and you can make bread anytime. Dried beans last for years.

You can find many ways to ween yourself from the grocery store, even if you live in the city. Just look around you and brain storm.

I love Mother Earth News. There’s one publication that has, for years, taught various ways to do things for yourself. If you’re curious, check out http://motherearthnews.com  You could be busy for months, just reading and learning.

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Those caught in the middle class sector are getting squeezed the hardest. Jobs are falling off the board and real estate prices are dropping.

If you own a home, you’re sweating if those mortgage payments are getting the best of you but you can’t get out from under them.

First, let me tell you those real estate markets will rise again. How long that takes, nobody really knows but I’ve never seen it take longer than one Presidential term.

It took bad decisions to get us here. It will take wise decisions to get us out. That takes time.

How did we get here in the first place? Buying China and letting China buy us. That puts us between a rock and a hard place because now that the dollar is so short, it’s hard not to keep buying from China because of the prices.

One might ask themselves, every time they reach for something made in another country, just how badly do we need that item.

Back to what do we do now, to survive. Right off the bat, I have to say that if you can’t make it with your own two hands, then it doesn’t have to sit under the Christmas tree.

I realize this just makes matters worse for the retail market but it’s time to think survival and stick to those things most needed like groceries, electricity, gas.

Must you wear the latest fashion? The answer is a flat ‘no’. That happens to be a huge luxury. We have become so spoiled that our every day living habits have completely changed from just 50 years ago. Your parents and grand-parents didn’t die from the lack of those things you have today, and neither will you.

Stop with the video games. Stop the feverish shopping habits. You don’t need them. Cut up those credit cards and do all you can to pay them off. Don’t ever again, get a credit card. You’ve already seen how they can sink you in a pinch.

If you own a house, do all you can to keep it. It will pay you back. If you don’t, now is the time to cut out all the fluff, go into survival mode and save! Save all you can because the market will come back and you’d like to be ready before it comes completely back up to the inflated prices of yesterday.

When your kids whine, show them pictures of how other countries are living. I survived, listening to ‘think of all the starving children in China’ and they will too. Teach them about real life and what happens to a dollar. Show them how to save for what they want, instead of thinking the world just owes it to them. You’ll be doing them a tremendous favor.

Considering if you’re of child bearing age, you’ve come out of a comfortable childhood. If your parents had taught you the proper use of a dollar, you wouldn’t be suffering today.

If you’ve lost your job and just can’t find another, it’s time to put all your energy to work. It’s now, you against the world. Instead of thinking about what you can’t do, it’s time to take charge of what you CAN do.

Are you good with book keeping? Visit the small gas stations and ask if they are in need of a book keeper. You might be surprised. Can you chop wood? If you also happen to have a chain saw and a pickup, you’re in business. Get a permit and find out where the wood is to be had.  If there’s any way you can borrow another pickup, you can have your wife sit on the corner and sell it, while you go out for more. People are cutting back everywhere and those with fireplaces are using them, instead of paying for high priced electricity or gas.

It’s better to have that low paying job than no job at all. You can always keep looking for better. In the meantime, you have a family to feed.

If you have teenagers in the house, sit them down and explain the situation. Tell them you need them working at the fast food place and bringing money into the family. If that happens, you also need to include them on the household budget. It’s temporary and they need to understand that.

Too many cars?  Or you think you need that third vehicle? Get rid of it. It’s eating insurance money and depreciating every day. If it’s paid off, sell the one that’s not.

Do every thing you can, to drop monthly payments. Get light weight!

Your ancestors survived on beans and potatoes through the great depression. That is, if they were one of the lucky ones. You don’t need wine and beer to survive. You don’t need fancy cheese. You don’t need the best cut of meat.

Get through this time and hang onto all you can: your house, a car, your furniture. Your biggest investments. You will need them when this time passes and the economy begins to improve.

Think and survive. Who cares what the neighbors think. If they aren’t suffering, they soon will be. Set the example.

Has anyone taken note of what’s happening in Las Vegas? It’s practically a ghost town. Building has stopped and jobs lost. They too, are trying to survive.

You’re not alone. You’re just not hearing all the truth around you.

To the wives or the household cook-learn how to stretch meals with rice and gravy. It won’t kill you.  Buy larger pieces of meat and save the bone. That bone is full of nutrition. Boil it down and use the broth for soups. Then give the bone to your dog. Waste nothing. Eating out, is a dollar sucker.

Learn to sew and use yesterdays clothes to create new ones. Patch knees and elbows.

Learn how to live within your means and even tighter, if possible. A dollar you save today, may be your survival tomorrow. Don’t spend it on earrings.

Keep a budget, even if you can’t make ends meet. At least you will soon discover where you are throwing money away. Absolutely everything you normally spend money on, is now on the auction block and being examined. What is necessity and what is not.

The economy is in worse condition than most people are willing to believe. It’s time to put on your thinking cap and be prepared.

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