The man is keeping me down

The recession (don't you DARE call it a depression) is really starting to hit home now. We were informed that because we had a shortage in our escrow account for property taxes this year that we'll be paying $80 more on our mortage. The cost of food is steadily rising, where we'd normally pay $100 every 2 weeks we're paying $150-$200. There was a scare that clothing resale stores (such as Goodwill) would no longer be able to sell kid's clothes unless they were tested for lead. This has since been clarified http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/37555019.html. Despite paying an extra $50 last month, our energy bill is $50 higher than last month because the billing cycle was 36 days. WTF?

What pisses me off the most is that there are goverment roots behind all of this bullshit. Our mortage is held by the USDA, the gov't is partially responsible for food pricing (price ceilings, etc.). They created the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act . and are partially responsible for energy pricing. Add in the mandatory taxes and stuff and your lower income Americans are drowning in this. That doesn't even take into account the credit card debts and student loan debts (also held by the gov't) that we and others have.

On top of that, I'm a contractor for the state and our contracts only get renewed every 3 years (or so I was told, I think it's a crock of shit) and with the budget crunch there's no extra money for me. Pam's maxed out at her job so there's no money there. So where in the fuck is your average family suppose to get all this extra money from and be able to pay down their debts?
Here is what we're doing:

-Making our own laundry detergent. There's a really good article at http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/. I used recipe #9 and while it was a little messy to make, by my calculations we should be saving $65 a year.

-Unplugging everything not in use. My electronics shelf is a sucky beast even when everything is off, all the status lights and idle network traffic is a drain. Same for the computer, that is on 24/7 and it really could be off more often with the modem, cable modem, etc unplugged.

-Turn down the heat....again. We already keep the house nippily cold, but we've dropped the temp another degree. Here's hoping my cock doesn't fall off. I guess I'll just have to "keep warm" with Pam in bed, hurr hurr hurr.

-I'm now getting my hair and the loofah wet, turning off the water, soaping up and then rinsing it off.

-We're going to have to start weatherproofing the windows again (at least the ones that haven't been replaced.

-Go thrifting more. Goodwill and Salvation Army are great places to get clothes, especially for kids. As fast as they grow there is no fucking reason you should be spending a lot of money on clothes. At Goodwill nothing is over 4.00 and we're talking some good clothes, barely used and labels like Gap, Calvin Klein, Old Navy. We spent $150 this weekend and the kids are set for the next 6 months. See how many outfits you can get from Gap for that much. I dares you.

Alright, I gotta cut this rant short because it's busy as fuck at work now. Go figure. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one here :(

"I hate my job, all of my rich friends I hate everyone to the bitter end. Nothing turns out right There's no end in sight I hate my life! " Theory of a Deadman