'Into each life a little rain must fall'

There is an old adage that is very apropos to the time we are living right now "Into each life a little rain must fall."  most of us realize that life brings some difficulties and hard times, and no doubt, we have all been tightening our belts for a while now, I know I have.

    

However, looking back at history, hard times are a reality in our world. Just in the past century alone, people were forced to resort to extraordinary measures to stay afloat. Consider the Great Depression in the 30s or the economic measures taken during the World War II with rationing and the national calls to support the war effort. (I was not born then)

    

Today, people have been feeling both the crunch of rising prices, shrinking budgets and the threat of a worldwide weak economy. Yet, like past generations, there are always things we can do on our own to exercise some control to reduce our costs and stretch our money further.

    

For example, we can consider ways to cut back on our electricity and water consumption. Simple things like turning off lights when you leave a room, using water-conserving shower heads, and only running your dishwasher or washing machine with a full load, can cut utility costs while conserving water and energy at the same time. A little conservation is a good practice for all of us. It is good to be conscious of what we need and what we use.

    

We can also save gas by combining errands or planning them so that we make a circuit rather than zooming back and forth from one place to the next. We can revisit our cable package and cell phone plan in an effort to trim down the costs. Another suggestion is to forgo an expensive evening out in exchange for special evening at home with a favorite DVD rental and home cooked meal. Please feel free to check

www.abbadish.blogspot.com for recipes.

Readers, I just want to remind you of the small things that can be done to help weather our economic storm, while still enjoying the day to day. I hope these suggestions prove helpful. If you have any of your own, that you would like to share, please feel free to comment. These are good times for sharing resources.