"...I have enough to pay my bills and buy a few toys and still set aside a little each month..."

Far as we am concerned, that is all you need. We have more than some folks, much less than others. Everything we own came from working, budgeting, pinching pennies, saving in order to pay cash, etc etc etc. In our opinion, one of the biggest problems facing our people today is the desire for instant gratification. No waiting for anything, just rush out and buy it on time, paying monster interest, in the end paying twice the original purchase price. Most of our kids had CD's, DVD's plasma TV's, and more, long before we did (still don't have that plasma). But they are in dept up to their eyeballs...

Mine comes from being single. It's cheaper.

"...I have enough to pay my bills and buy a few toys and still set aside a little each month..."

It's worth considering that 80%+ of the humans on Earth would trade places with you, no questions asked. Anything above "day-to-day survival" is "wealth." We in the West are so much wealthier than we realize, both in resources and opportunity; but I think a lot of us have lost sight of that, to an alarming (and perhaps self-destructive) degree.

"hmm, WHAT recession?

Sorry to be insensitive but I happen to live in the one area of North America that is enjoying HIGH growth with nominal GDP almost doubling in the last few years. We are enjoying the perfect storm of high commodity prices for all our major exports at the same time and the forecast is for more of the same for several years. Unemployment is down, pay cheque is up. If eastern Canada is getting you down, then come out west, young man, come out west!"

- - - - -

It's true, Western Canada is in a massive boom. We need people with trades and technical skills, and people with a strong work ethic. There are professional and service industry jobs unfilled. Not much tolerance out here for slackers, drug-heads or welfare-types (assuming you're able-bodied).

This boom is drawing in people from across the globe. Eastern Canadians, Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Phillipinos, Mexicans, you name it. It's a regular United Nations these days. If you're willing to put your shoulder to the wheel, you're welcome here.

'Course you Americans will have to leave your handguns at home. But frankly, you won't really need them up here. Our motto is "Peace, Order and Good Government." I think we do a pretty good job of that.

~~end of sales pitch~~ :-)

What about the idea that there is No recession going on? Technically speaking anyway. The Definition of a Recession is Two straight quarters of Negative economic growth. This has not occurred.

Interesting segment on the Today Show this AM, including a panel of experts such as Steve Forbes and Jim Cramer. One panelist suggested a recession, like most things, has some good long-term effects such as bringing prices down due to reduced demand. Cramer said dump the ethanol program - all it's doing is driving up the price of every food product that is corn dependent, including meat and poultry. He said we should exploit natural gas: we've got incredible reserves, and the technology is here now to use it in cars and trucks.

As for dealing with the stress brought about by economic worries, I re-read Adrift by Tristan Jones. It restores my perspective on what "down and out" really means.

I'm in the process of teaching my kids and grandkids the concept of "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" They have never had to worry about money before so before they do, I thought it would be wise to get back to the basics. They are starting to see my point. It's working pretty good so far. With the exception of emergency room runs for the baby, we have cut our gas consumption in half by coordinating our grocery trips and car pooling. We only live 3 miles apart but instead of going back and fourth visiting during the week, we spend the whole day together on grocery day, you'd be surprised at how much it saves. Since my new grandaughter requires so much attention, I've been keeping my 10 year old grandaughter a few days a week and I've been teaching her how to shop and cook. We have 2 rules for cooking, it can't be nuked in the microwave and it can't be an instant meal. Everything has to be from scratch. She's loving the attention and the learning.

Beg your pardon, BigDaddyTX, although there was 30% unemployment in Canada as a whole (not sure about what it was in America so you may be correct as well), the U/R was 66% in Saskatchewan which is where I'm from. Total income in the Province dropped by 90% from 1928 to 1933. When I said 50%, that was the general number used by the old timers that they tell us "youngins" (hey, I'm 48!)

When I looked it up, I was surprised that the actual figure was even higher than what traditionally told to me!

By comparison, today's rate is 4% (Note: You can't compare US and Canadian rates because of differences in how unemployment is measured in the two countries and because the US has a higher incarceration rate than Canada. The current US U/R is 5.5% but a more realistic comparison would be 7.0-7.5% once the differences were accounted for).

My personal method for coping with the stress of the recession is self improvement.

That means going back to school, and taking training for a new career path, hopefully one that's more recession-proof.

It also means getting back into better physical condition. I've started a walking/hiking program and by next Spring hope to be taking weekend hiking trips to our state parks. That's largely responsible for my renewed interest in wilderness skills, which is how I found this site. I've also started studying Kali, which is kind of hard on ankles that are bearing about forty to fifty pounds too much weight. Hope to have that off by Christmas (just in time to start packing it back on, lol).