Attention America ~ Read Other American's Stories

Amanda S. - North Las Vegas, NV ~ As a college student, this recession has had a significant impact on my current situation. Nevada's governor wanted to cut an immense percentage of funding from higher education, which would have led to a huge increase in tuition and I would not be able to attend college anymore because I wouldn't have been able to afford it.

I fought with my fellow college friends to stop the cuts from going through at such a high rate. I rallied at the capital numerous times, wrote letters, and was an active participant within my college to stop these cuts. Now, only a 12.5% cut was put into effect, much better than the original proposal, but I'm still fighting to keep my tuition rates down so I can get that college degree.

This has taught me that if you outrage college students enough, they will fight back and I am proud to be apart of that. College is very important to me, and I will continue fighting to keep tuition down.

Mark B - St. Louis, MO ~ I was laid off from my job last month due to the economy. I have a civil engineering degree and 20 years experience in the field. The biggest thing I have done to fight this recession is network with my community. I have visited over 10 Chamber of Commerce's here in the area and have been to meetings where business owners are getting together. If I try to go on interviews, then I am competing with kids half my age.

By networking to find a job, I have found several possibilities faster than throwing myself into the job market. I have found several opportunities on this site through the job search resource area. I hope between the two, I will find the right job and continue saving for my retirement!

Tim H - Bowling Green, KY ~ The biggest thing I have learned during this recession is how much money I have wasted over the last 5 years. This monthly I went through and cut out the "nice to haves" out of my monthly budget. Things like, gourmet coffee, dinners out, home phone service, rarely used gym membership, etc. In one day, I reduced our monthly household income by $234.50!

We are now going to have a garage sale in two weeks. I am taking pictures and placing stuff on craigslist as well. I am betting that we will reduce our next months spending by $500 and add over $250 of income. That is a $750 swing, just by making the effort.

Listen, if someone like me can do it, so can you. My thanks to the team at AmericansAgainstRecession.com for making me stop and think what I could do during this economy. I encourage you to try some of the suggestions they have, they work!

Frank M. - Kansas City, MO. ~ This recession has taught me a couple of things. First, it is unwise to depend on your employer for financial security. I worked at a large corporation for 15 years. Last November, my position was terminated. Now I am in my mid 50's competing against people in their 30's for jobs that will pay me 1/4 of what I was making. The lesson I learned was to dedicate more of my free time investing in additional resources that would have allowed me now to start my own business.

It is now to late. I will have to work 2 jobs and twice as hard to make ends meet.

The blessing in disguise is that now I am able to work with my son who is starting a landscaping business. I am able to coach him first hand on how to run a small business. If I were still working and traveling with my previous employer, I would have missed this opportunity to develop my sons financial future.

Nancy P. - Spring, TX. ~ My husband had to make a decision to either take a huge pay reduction with his employer or leave his job. We decided for him to stay with his company and for me to go to work. I am selling oriental rugs to high end residential customers. This has allowed us to stay in our house and continue saving for retirement.

What is neat about this is I now am learning more about myself. It makes me feel great that I am able to add to our household income. While I am not able to spend as much time with my friends during "working hours" I discovered that my friends and their network of friends are now my clients.

We hope that my husband gets his previous salary back over the next 12 months. Even if he does, I will still keep selling rugs because I am pretty good at it!

Jennifer S. - Salt Lake City, UT. ~ The hardest part for me to understand is why the government continues to take our tax money and poor it back into the huge businesses that have or will collapsed. It would make more sense to allow the taxpayers to keep their money to spend on companies that sell good products and services that are growing.

It really frustrates me to see how our tax dollars are being used.