I’ve been trying to avoid the “recession” woes news as much as possible these days. It’s not because I want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend things aren’t there… but I do tend to worry about things, and what can a person do when the governments are bound and determined to wreck the economy?? We can only wait it out (and be very careful about how we spend our own money). The credit card debt is terrible. I know it is for the rest of the country, too– we need some serious debt relief in this country. We have a lot of it. For us, it started years ago, when the economy in New York really started to go south (along with a lot of fed-up people). We used credit to get through some really tight times, in the hopes that things would get better and we could pay things off. Well, it’s pretty obvious that things haven’t gotten better. Sigh. We did try debt consolidation for a few years, but they were schiesters and took off with our money. Not much debt help there! We’ve decided to take things into our own hands, and just pay what we can, when we can, and not purchase ANYTHING until it’s paid off. And things like Bills IQ quizzes help us see where we need to improve. Check it out! I’ve come to realize that it’s really up to the individual to fix things. The more the government gets out of the way, the better!

I’ve been reading news about gas and food prices and am just getting madder and madder. The really lousy thing about this all is that I think it’s been avoidable. Governments are too big, they cater to special interests groups, they make their deals, and we the people are shafted. High gas prices are tough, but you can live without gasoline (like, getting a horse, lol). But everyone NEEDS food. Food prices are too high, thanks to idiots who legislated the ethanol crock. And my heart is bleeding for people in countries like the Philippines, where they are having a rice shortage. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle and all the pieces are fitting together. Yes, I believe in a conspiracy!

So what are people to do? What else, go deeper in debt! :-p That stinks. We have a lot of consumer debt because of various hard economic times, and have been scrambling to pay it off. I now work at home (blogging) so I am thankful I can help with the bills. But we still have to shop around for credit card reviews to find the best rates. The site is great because you can just look around and see what other companies are offering. In the past, we have always waited for all the junk mail credit card offers to come in. Now, I can check online!

Debt is very painful, though. I fully intend to pay it off! How about you? How are you coping with the price rises and credit debt?