Karen Hobel says she responded to our call for participants because she wants those with jobs to be a bit more understanding to those who are in the same predicament she is.
She doesn't want a handout, she just wants a job.
Until then, she's “Going Without.

Laughing is something Karen Hobel doesn't get to do that often these days. For years a carpenter and manager in the construction business, she was laid off two years ago, and has been looking for work ever since.

“You are only human. You can only kinda get scared, and I'm afraid of losing my home,” says Karen.

Karen says the internet is one of the only so-called luxuries she affords herself. That's because these days it's the only way she says she can apply for jobs. The rest has been disconnected or put to the side for now. She got rid of the satellite TV. Her home will be heated solely by her wood-burning stove this winter.

When she's not at home, she turns her breakers off to certain rooms to save money.

She was going to shut her land line off as well, but the company gave her a break. Now she says her monthly bill is mostly taxes. Other companies have not been as forgiving.

“You are trying to save you are cutting back, and turning things off, and trying to keep bills low and everything then they say we aren't making enough money and they are allowed to raise our rates. Who is protecting the consumer when we are trying to get by?” says Karen

Her animals are her lifeline she says. She barters with neighbors, using her chicken eggs for services she can't do herself. She says next spring she plans on planting a garden. She's doing all she can to stay afloat and ride this recession out.

She says those who aren't in the same boat should be thankful instead of judgmental.

Karen says her most important bill of the month is the mortgage. And so far she says the lenders have been willing to work with her until she gets back on her feet.