My wife is not well so we have a woman that come into our home taking care of necessary functions. She works full time and has little time for anything else. She and her husband can hardly make ends meet. He is a temporary driver and can drive only when other drivers are out for some reason. With a household of kids it makes things tough.

Such stories are all around us these days, aren't they? Folks working two or three jobs attempting to replace the income they use to make with one job. No wonder they can not make ends meet. The increase in our living cost is part of the problem. So is the fact that the economy is not recovering rapidly and also that many lost jobs will never be replaced.

So many people on our globe are suffering due to natural disasters. Brave senior citizens in Japan are working with deadly radiation to help remove the threat of the nuclear disaster that occurred during the last earthquake. Thousands lost not only their loved ones and their homes but their jobs when the tsunami destroyed factories and other place of business. Many of these people are still living in shelters. But we have many right here in the United States that can't make ends meet because of hurricanes that have recently devastated our cities. I saw two towns completely destroyed by hurricanes when I lived in Iowa. It was heartbreaking. And there are the floods.

You must think about emergency preparedness in these times. Folks need a place to take shelter in case of a disaster. They need to have supplies on hand to help them survive during the recovery period. I always buy food by the case, even breakfast cereal, to have a pantry where I might be able to go to find a can of beans if I need one. But people need a cash reserve too, money to live on for several months. But it is hard to have a financial reserve when you are not making ends meet and car hardly put food on the table for your family.

One way to help make ends meet is to have a work-at-home job. This might be providing a service to local businesses or professionals. If you have special skills or can learn such skills you might provide a secretarial service to doctors and other professionals. Accountants can work from a home office for example. If you are clever and can make things to sell, you can make a side income. My daughter-in-law make jewelry. When she has a supply she goes to a flea market and sell them. There are scads of such opportunities.

Some folks are able to make money on the Internet. They market their own products or other people's products. I have been doing this for a long time. Some sell digital products or software. I prefer to sell real products. You can do both. No matter what you decide to do you will need to be trained by people who really know what they are doing, not the Internet gurus that are there only to empty your products. But with training, you can make ends meet.

Fly Old Glory!