The news is so bad I almost hate turning on the televison or reading the paper. Between the war in the Middle East, job losses, the bank failures, the threat of nuclear warfare and political bickering, it's hard to know what to worry about most. One universal topic today centers around saving money. I know Americans are resourceful and it seems like things always work out, so I'm sure one day we'll look back at this time in our lives and say, "Whew! That was close!" But right now, getting by may take a lot of faith and a little creative thinking.

Friends and family have shared different stories with me on how they are changing their spending habits because of today's economy. I hear:

• Buying off the value menu when eating out and skipping the soft drinks, drinking water instead.
• Shopping more in bulk, warehouse stores
• Hitting the movie matinees, or bargain movies
• Using coupons at the grocery store and sending off for rebates.
• Two families shopping together, buying two for ones and splitting the bill
• Buying clothing from and selling to Resale Stores
• Buying from the Dollar Stores for kids parties

Let's face it, spending like Paris Hilton is so yesterday. If you aren't worried about money now, that's great. But if you aren't saving, just in case, you're being reckless. There are too many families right now living on just one income or spending savings and charging on credit cards just to get by. So, the new cool is being frugal without guilt!

These challenging times make me appreciate my Mom, and think of the things she did when I was growing up. She is the smartest, thriftiest person I know. Having grown up during the Great Depression, she learned to find a way to reuse everything. For instance, she:

• Saved bread bags, then washed and reused them for storage
• Saved rubber bands, buttons, safety pins
• Saved material and repurposed it for homemade pot holders, napkins, aprons etc.
• Baked and cooked everything from scratch
• Turned every bottle and jar upside down to get the last bit out of it and then saved the bottle or jar plus lids to reuse or store food or items.
• Sewed our clothes and window curtains
• Bought from bargain stores
• Taught us to enjoy crayons and coloring books, making paperdolls out of the cardboard backs from tablets, and paper clothes that we designed and colored.

And you know what's funny? I don't remember ever feeling that I went without anything. In fact, things seemed pretty great!

Okay, you may not want to start sewing pot holders tomorrow, but can't we put a spin on that idea? Maybe we need to listen closer to our parents and grandparents when they talk about living through the tough times? Maybe we need to celebrate the thriftiness of others instead of calling them cheap? Maybe this whole economic collapse happened to give us a reason to stop the money-blowing madness and realize what's really important in life? And to teach our kids and grandkids how to have fun just using their imagination? What do you think?

One last thought for you: What about starting at least one family money saving plan? My family recycles all gifts bags and tissue wrap proudly. We are thinking of putting our name, location,reason for gift and date on the inside of every bag we reuse, We hope the idea will catch on and gifts bags will travel the world. I can't wait to be the tenth recipient of a gift bag that has gone from Phoenix, Arizona to Glendale, Arizona to New York to Florida to London to.....well you get the idea.

What are YOU doing to save? What ideas do YOU have?