Monday, March 16, 2009

How to Survive a Depression and Thrive During Tough Economic Times

People all over the world are wondering how to survive a depression. They realize that we are all going through some tough economic times right now. Still, it's not yet as bad as it was when the Great Depression was going on. The stock market has been dropping for several months now and that is bad news for those who invest in stocks. At some point, I'm sure things will get back on track again, but who really knows for sure how long that could take?

During this rough time, we all need to sit down and figure out how to survive a depression. Discuss these tough times with your family to see how you can save money or spend less on the things you need and want. You would be surprised at the ideas the kids can come up with, so you will want to include them as well.

Learning how to survive a depression can be a struggle at first, but if you work together as a family, you can do it. If you ever studied the great depression in school, you know that they did what they had to do to survive during that time. We may have to do the same thing during this tough time. People that didn't have jobs before may have to get one so they have enough money to support their families. Businesses are laying people off because income is down. This makes it hard on families as well.

There are a number of things you can do to teach your family how to survive a depression before it happens. For starters, you should save money while you can. There are many ways you can save money here and there. Drive the car instead of the truck on the weekends when you go to different places as a family. Walk if you can rather than drive. Go out to dinner less and cook at home more. Purchase less expensive foods and skip the more expensive ones such as crab, shrimp, and steak.

Still needs more ideas on how to survive a depression? Why not have the kids walk to school rather than going out of your way to take them or pick them up. If walking is not an option, have them ride a bus instead. Use public transportation instead of your own vehicles.

Call your creditors to see if there is a way to lower your interest rates. This would help with your mortgage, car loans, and credit cards. Call your insurance agent and ask if there are any discounts that you can take advantage of. Call the bank and ask about refinancing your mortgage or car loans for lower payments. Review your bills to see if there are any you can eliminate. You might be able to lower your cable bill if you get rid of channels you don't watch. Call the phone company to see if you can remove features that you don't use.

The time to start considering how to survive a depression is now. Get together as a family and take a close look at all your options. Figuring out how to survive a depression and taking preventive steps to minimize financial loss is much easier to do when you are not struggling. Struggling to keep your head above water is very stressful when you have bills to pay and a family to feed.
Surviving the hard times may not be easy, but it can be done.

By Darlyn Burkle

Darlyn Burkle of http://www.I-Choose-Us.com, offers resources to show women how to survive a depression and thrive through the financial crisis. The 52-week Money Saving Toolkit helps women save and earn extra money. It covers practical money saving tips for saving on food, utilities, mortgage, gasoline, entertainment, college education, travel, gift-giving, and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darlyn_Burkle



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