So the recession is hitting closer to home with each passing day. People losing their jobs, prices skyrocketing, businesses going under and nothing better upon the horizon. The economy hasn’t been this bad since The Great Depression. And in many ways it looks like our country is heading down that road.

Here at Northern Kentucky University, the hits keep coming. Tuition is on the rise, again, and talk of per credit hour cost is happening.

Economic problems are a big deal now but, like the war in Iraq, it seems that we have pushed it on the back burner. It’s there but we acknowledge it only when the steam rises.

Prices have gone up but we still buy everything up. Things that we don’t need are bought and money that should be saved is being spent. iPhones, iPods, Blackberries, computers, all of these things don’t need to be bought.

Yes, they are all cool gadgets and put in the loop for having the latest greatest thing. But what could be done with the $400 that was spent on that new iPod touch?

Businesses are going under and jobs are being lost, but that new Blackberry sure is being bought. Is a phone that does everything short of washing a car really needed? What happened to the days when a simple phone that just called people was enough? Now, it has to get the internet, has to take pictures, has to take pictures of phones that get on the internet.

In these hard economic times the price tag is something that as consumers we overlook. Complaints about the bad economy only go so far. Saving money that is being spent on items that we don’t need should be taken into consideration.

A question comes to mind when thinking about this.
How are you saving your money?