Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, the first piece of advice is obvious. It's something that most people don't like to do. I don't like to do it. And that is to sit down and prioritize your spending. Make a list in terms of where your money goes from most important needs to less important needs, and for those ones at the bottom of the list, try to reduce them or eliminate them. Now what this means is you have to make choices. And you have to cut out things that obviously you have been doing that you find are valuable, and no one likes to do this. It's not fun, but in many cases it is necessary. The second thing I would advise people to do is try to substitute. Try to find items that serve the same purpose yet are lower in price, and substitute those for higher-priced items. For example - very mundane example - bread prices have gone way up. Now bread is a source of carbohydrates, maybe you would want to substitute potatoes for bread in your meals. In fact, potato prices have not gone up much at all. So that would be an example. In terms of getting to work, obviously look at mass transit, if available. Look at carpooling instead of driving alone. And then in terms of your meals, perhaps substitute more homemade meals for more expensive restaurant meals. And then finally, I would say consider big changes. If you are always the person getting laid off first at your job, and this has happened time and time again, maybe this is a signal that you need to do more to increase your skills, increase your qualifications. That is, make a plan, perhaps, to go back to school and get more education."