The Economists silent Tsunami in action- commodities prices having a real impact

Jennifer Yueill: Food costs sting

Jennifer with her daughter, Phoebe, and son, Gavin

• Issue #1: America's Money
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Phlebotomist, 35, Omaha, Neb.

I am a single, working mom of two kids under the age of 8. I make $13 an hour as a phlebotomist and pay $500 per month in daycare alone. Making ends meet before was difficult, but it is nearly impossible now, and I lose a lot of sleep over it.

I have made major changes at our household to cut expenses. Nothing has been unaffected. I drive a lot less. Once I am home from work we stay home, unless we walk or bike. We don't go out to eat. At first we replaced going out to eat with buying dinner from the deli at our supermarket, but we have cut that too.

We buy generic everything, and I do stock up, if I can, when things are on sale. Some groceries we have had to cut down on or even eliminate. We used to buy, and eat, a lot of fresh produce such as apples and oranges. My kids love cheese sticks and shredded cheese, but the cost has nearly doubled over the last year.

I am planting a garden this year. We are fishing too, not necessarily because we are that desperate, yet, but because it is inexpensive family entertainment. We used to catch and release, but we are eating what we catch now. Most of my friends are in the same, or worse, situation. When groceries run low we have potluck dinners.

Summer is here and my daycare bill will double because my school age daughter will be in daycare too. I honestly have no idea how I will be covering this cost. I cannot work another job because my daycare will cost even more.

Sherry Kostenko: Starting over at 40

Sherry with her husband, Victor; daughter, Lauren; and son, Nolan

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Stay-at-home mom, 40, Apopka, Fla.

We bought a home in Orlando, Fla., in February 2005, the height of the boom here. At the time, we could afford the home, the taxes and the insurance. It would be tight but we kept planning on "the bonus" or "the raise."

We got all caught up in the "square footage" of the home. Well, what we didn't realize was that with our BIG HOUSE comes BIG EVERYTHING! Big taxes, big insurance, big water bills, big electric bills. The anxiety at the end of the month caused health problems for both my husband, Victor, and I.

Last summer, we realized that we could not live like this any longer. We could not afford our home, we were prisoners of our mortgage. We couldn't enjoy life outside the house. We were literally trapped.

We decided to "downsize" our life, our lifestyle and our home. It was a lot of soul searching but we both realized that it's not all about "square footage" or bedrooms or full baths. It's about being able to afford a mortgage (and all the add-ons) and still have money at the end of the month.

Now, our timing could not be worse of course, for putting the big house on the market. We built a much smaller house, ranch style and I love it! My first electric bill was a third of what it used to be. Yes, we still have the big house, but we were able to rent it out and cover expenses.

We are not making a dime on the rental, and when the market comes back, we will put it back up to sell. We wiped out Victor's 401(k) to pay off debt and put a down payment on the new house. We have established a savings account and there is actually money left over at the end of the month....whew!