With a shortage of work, I've been able to spend more time outdoors. I've been hiking every morning, and I've lost about 12 pounds in the past few months. I even used some of my free time to build a web application to keep track of my weight loss. I've also had more time to focus on eating healthier, and my headaches have gone away!

I used to spend $5 for a breakfast burrito every morning.  Don't get me wrong, this burrito is awesome, but it is also incredibly bad for my health.  Now I make a nice oatmeal and scrambled eggs every morning.  It is free and I think the oat meal gives me sustained energy throughout the morning.

But still, if you ever stop by the MOCA in Downtown LA in the mornings, go to the street vendor that sets up shop in front of the California Pizza Kitchen.  That guy makes the best burritos in town.

The silver lining for me is related to my job. Nonprofit fundraising is difficult at any time, but particularly during recessionary periods when donors have less money to give. As a result, a greater percentage of people in the sector are interested in innovative thought and new ways of doing business -- and are eager to explore those opportunities. As a think-tank lover, I feel more creative and empowered to make positive change now than at any other time in my career.

The silver lining in this recession is that people are becoming more frugal and smart with their money. They are stretching their dollars and realizing what each dollar can do.

Going to restaurants is so much cheaper now! There are BOGO's from restaurants that never di that like Ruby Tuesday and Friday's. The service is great, there are hardly ever lines!

Travelling is great... I've got $6/day mid-size rental cars and $15/nite 4-start hotel rooms.

Lawn service companies are tripping over themselves to give me great deals and better service.

Talked down the cable company to a great rate.

Take advantage of it now. I remember when the economy was booming... long lines, surly service, places inadequately staffed.

silver lining....folks spending more time with family and friends than worrying about accumulating things to impress friends and family. The best things in life are not things.

My husband and I (both 24) finally got to the point financially where we were able to drop a chunk of change into our first retirement investment. Thanks to the recession, we were able to buy low.

The recession has created better communication within my my family. We work out a shopping list together, we create a weekly meal plan and we save all our receipts so the information can go into our budget. Before the recession, my wife and I would wondered where our money was being spent but now we know where our money is being spent and we are on the same page on what we should spend our money. We want to take our kids to Disney but now the entire family is planning for the trip and saving our money so that we can have a grand time without going into debt.

This economy has forced me to conserve which in turns helps the environment, spend more wisely, appreciate cooking for my family, spend more quality time with loved ones, turned me back on to books, and nutured my creative muse by forcing me to live more creatively...these are all things I appreciate and hope I carry forward with me even after the economy turns around.

The best outcome is that people are buying more used items mostly because of cost but that really helps the environment by not needing to use new virgin resources.

The economic downturn means that getting a 'real job' is very difficult, especially in a state (Michigan) that has been in recession for probably 20 years.

Even so, this really gives a good opportunity for individuals to sit down and assess just what they're doing with their lives, and if there are better options. It feels like there are fewer risks in taking chances and making changes in your life.

That and learning to live in an ultra-frugal way has to build character and teach us some interesting things that we've missed out on -- particularly with several generations who were raised to believe that money grew on trees.

The playing field isn't equal, but it's considerably more shaken up.

In a way, I hope it's only temporary, but there is much less traffic commuting because more people are out of a job. While I can enjoy this, I do hope people are able to get back to work soon.

I am happy to be buying stocks at a discounted price.

I am becoming more aware of where my money is going. I am trying to be more frugal. When my sister came to visit this winter, she went home and ask my mom if I ever bought anything that was not on sale!

SD Gal and I have been learning like crazy - we've even been able to turn our experiences into a blog.

I've been commuting to work by bike since I graduated from college. I have a car, but I'm not a huge fan of driving. I also had to pay $50/month if I wanted to park at work (for my old job). I used to have people yell and honk at me (frequently telling me to get on the sidewalk...even if I was in the bike lane).

As gas prices increased and the economy tanked, people in cars have become much more understanding about people on bikes. Cars will slow down as they pass me in the bike lane or switch to another lane to give me more room.

The kindness of car commuters has made my bike commuting a lot more fun!

I'm following Dave Ramsey's plan and have all our debt paid off but the house and are saving money for 3-6 months of expenses for an emergency fund. I'm not participating in the recession!

And while everyone else is freaking out about the recession, I'm totally at peace with where me & hubby are at financially!

Since I am young & have limited investments, any money I put in now will grow in my 401k or individual investments.

This isn't so great for others who have money in the market but I am fortunate to have just entered to the job market so I am going to take full advantage of this down market.

I think that the silver lining to all of this mess is that it's now "cool" to be frugal. There's no stigma with saying that you're looking for a deal or watching your budget. There's nothing wrong with saying that you're not buying THE item of the moment.

The gold lining is that we just might all realize that having massive accumulations of "stuff" doesn't mean we're better or better off than others... we're choking ourselves with materialism and we have a golden opportunity to reevaluate.

LEARN TO SAVE AND SPEND MORE WISELY.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN WHAT WE 'WANT' AND WHAT WE 'NEED'.

My fiance and I bought a house in February for less than half of its original price. It's in a great area, sits on one-half acre of land, and is in fantastic shape. Extra bonus: we got almost $6,000 of work out of the seller before we bought it!

The fear of losing everything I'd invested forced me to seek other sources of income. The silver lining was the motivation it provided to start my own blog. I'd been kicking the idea around for about 6 months, and the bottoming out in February was the catalyst.

After seeing friends get laid off I'm more grateful for what I have. I'm not in the best position financially, but at least I have money coming in so I can correct it and get ready in case something does happen to me!

We've been frugal for many years. To be safe, we're trying to be even more careful now and figure out how to save more money. We recently switched health insurance companies to one that gives the same benefits, costs a little less, and reimburses up to $400 per family for any formal exercise program, which is a significant boon to us. I'm amazed that we are still finding ways to save money, and we're still looking! The big savings initiative last year was that my husband stopped driving to work and now takes the bus. So he saves on parking and gasoline, pollutes less, gets more exercise in the walk from the bus, AND has gotten to know lots of nice people who also ride the bus.

Spending less and saving more also means less clutter in our house - I love that!

Ironically, our small home business is having one of its best years this year (so far), so that's been a blessing.

Last year was another story. This economy has made me more vigilant in cleaning up old debts. We have also been paying more attention to our finances. We've discovered Dave Ramsey and numerous personal finance blogs that we've been able to 'borrow' money-saving ideas.

With the economy tanking there are great deals to be had. Those of us who are still employed and who have always been frugal have great opportunities to save even more while spending even less!

With the downturn, there has been an increase in stores that sell salvage groceries. I like to buy a lot of strange foreign products and this has brought a much wider range of things that I can buy in my otherwise isolated rural area, products from all over the world, many of them gourmet items. Of course, being salvage groceries, the prices are usually quite low. You have to know what you're buying, what the normal prices are, and whether or not the stuff is still good if it's near or just past its sell date. But if you know your stuff, you can get wonderful food at good prices. For example, Arracacha chips from Columbia, Mojo Criollo marinade from Mexico, mineral water from Scotland, sparkling lemonade from France, beef jerky from Brazil, organic gourmet coffee from everywhere. Part of the fun is the excitement of trying something new, and never knowing quite what you'll find. It's like an adventure.

With the decreased housing market, my wife and I can finally afford a home.

I was laid off from the company where I had worked for 16 years. Found a better, higher paying job close to home 2 months later. I'm still getting paid by my old employers (for 8 months) so we are taking that money and using it to pay for 4 years of college tuition for our daughter.

We were under contract to buy a brand new loft downtown for around $270k. At the same time, my wife found this foreclosure (she does this for a living), for $15k. It was destroyed, but only required about $20k to get it to livable standards. So, we bought it and decided to flip it. That's one thing about this recession - although it is harder to sell a house, it is also easier to buy one.

However, we needed a place to stay for a few months, so we moved into the flip house, waiting for our shiny new loft to close. It finally did close. As we started preparing for the move, we started thinking. Well, we had recently been reviewing our finances and making some changes to our lives because of the times anyway.

At that time it hit us! We actually really like this house we bought, we already live here, its close to downtown and near a college campus, with plenty of stuff to do. Why don't we just stay here! So, our loft is back on the market and we have decided to stay.

The end result - we have completely changed the way we think about money, the way we save, and we own our house free and clear for less than most people pay for a car!

Awesome!

My silver lining is the vintage magazines I love to buy on Ebay are now dirt cheap and no one really bids against you. I adore making vintage crafts and before the crash some magazines and books were such huge collector's items a moderate income person like me couldn't touch the prices on them. Now many items I couldn't even attempt to buy are reasonable and available for a low income craftster like me.

This recession is teaching me to be patient. Money is tight already and with no good outlook of moving up, for the time being, I am learning to wait and make use of what I have already.

I believe (and hope) a silver lining to the recession will be to have people learn how to cook from scratch. It is much healthier and cheaper to cook a true from scratch meal than it is to pop something in the microwave or purchase out. I have always stressed to my children to buy ingredients and not meals when we are at the grocery store. Cooking together can become a wonderful inexpensive way of family entertainment. As a single mom of two for 17 years this has been a happy necessity for us. We have spent time learning some basic things about other countries culture and foods, picked a few recipes and found an ethnic market to do the actual shopping in. I still remember the first time my daughter was in an oriental market where no one spoke english. The music was unknown as well as the smells, dress and all of the wonderful ingredients. It gave us a little feel for what people from other countries experience when they come to america. A good lesson of empathy these days can only be helpful.

Carolyn in Florida

We've finally taken control of our finances, which we both had wanted to do but had no clue where to start.

Interestingly, I think the recession is helping service businesses such as tire shops and painters more than you'd suspect. Folks are keeping their cars & houses longer!

Great stocks at bargain prices. I've been buying more than ever, and I know when the economy bounces back it will help me reach me retirement goals.

Someone close to me was concerned about losing health insurance and decided to go ahead and schedule a cancer screening; the docs found cancer and quickly provided treatment. Things are looking good right now so the recession may have been life saving.

For the last big recession, I didn't have a job when I graduated from college so I planned and went on a cross-country road trip: NC to LA, where I stayed for a bit with a friend who was going to law school at Pepperdine. My buddy and I travelled in a Chevy Chevette and one of the hotels we stayed in had skeleton keys for room keys (this concerned me a bit) but we were fine. I suppose that was my cheapest vacation per day ever.

I was laid off from my job of 17 years on December 15, 2008. At first, panic and depression hit, but then I realized that at age 55, I could still pursue my dream and what better time!

I'd always wanted to be a teacher. I love kids and love to teach. My mother and grandmother were both teachers and convinced me not to pursue teaching as a career. They said it didn't pay well and I could do better with computers. I listened to them and became a computer systems analyst.

Now, I'm working on my Masters in Elementary Education and will become a teacher in 2 years. I am so excited! My dream will come true.

It's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Just kidding. I think the recession has given many of us time to reflect on our lives... after all, there is more to life than working and making money!

I feel more comfortable talking about the things I've learned and read and lived. I have coffee once a week with three wonderful women, and have felt so intimidated by them. Their families are present and supportive, they have a higher income and class bracket than I do, and for most of my childhood I've lived in low income or subsidized housing. Now, however, everyone is being watchful, knowing that anything could happen. I felt comfortable telling them that my son loves broccoli stems, knowing they'd ask how to prepare it so I could talk about peeling off the tough skin and chopping the sweet core into pieces, instead of discarding all that good food. Maybe they'll remember things their grandparents did, or their parents when money may have been tighter, and share it with all of us too.

Watching pennies may still be only a 'just in case' choice for all of us, but it'll be nice to have others' experiences shared too.

While I can enjoy this, I do hope people are able to get back to work soon.

Best thing about recession times is submitting comment to win $10
coupon :-) hope I win.

I think the silver lining is that people are finally trying to live within their means because there just isn't enough money to do otherwise. The effect on the environment and family ties is astoundingly positive! I love it! I never thought I would like a recession, but I think the boom of the 90s made us into spendthrifts, not thinking about tomorrow. Now the savings rate of Americans is up to 5% Wow! So, yes, while the recession sucks and I could lose my job and home tomorrow, at least we are seeing a return to values and spending wisely and I see that as a silver lining.

The recession brings out the goodwill in people. I have noticed more people giving or trading coupons with each other at the market. I think in the past we would have thrown out the sunday circulars without a second thought, but now people seem to be thinking "I may not need that 50 cent coupon off mac and cheese, but someone else does." At times the person in front of me at the checkout line will turn around as she is leaving and offer me her unused coupons "just in case." I have started to do the same and it never fails to make the recipient smile.

We stopped internet service at my house, so I use library resources much more often. Since there's a internet time limit there, I've used my time much more wisely as I looked for work.

I hope that this recession will make more Americans see that life is not about buying a huge house and filling it up with plastic and metal stuff. If we all move away from that idea, the planet will be a lot healthier and our lives will be richer.

The silver lining for me is I am much more aware of house I should set up my finances. I also can buy a house much earlier then I had planned. I used to think it would take forever to buy a house, now I will own one this year.

Rather than buying new a lot of folks are trying to make do with what they already own. This saves money and helps protect the Earth too!

The best thing about this recession is that it has forced my friends and I to "get on the stick". For months (or years), we had a financial to-do list to accomplish. Re-evaluate insurance plans, shop around for cell phone plans, reduce the cable television package, make a budget, stick to the budget, cook more at home, etc. With the recession in full swing and job security a thing for storybooks, we have made excellent progress on these lists.

I decided to write a blog post in response: What's the silver lining in this recession?.

Basically, my silver lining is that this recession is a lesson well learned and to be remembered for the rest of my life to never take financial and economic stability for granted again.

I always expected to not be rolling in the money at this point in my life, and so I'd rather see a downturn (wages/jobs diminished) now than at a point in my life where I might expect to earn more money.

The general economic down turn and the loss of my husbands’ job has actually been good for our family in some ways. In the past, friends marveled at our ability to live on one income of $10 an hour. However, we still bought many things we did not need and were vulnerable to the pull of appearing to be middle class. We spent much less than most but we still were trying to purchase fulfillment. I admired modern design and bought unnecessary things from IKEA. I replaced things that were still perfectly usable for aesthetic reasons. I gave away our mismatched dining chairs for four matching ones of lower quality. I spent more than I was comfortable with to feel like I was fitting in with my middle class peers. Now I am spared from that pretension because we don’t have that extra little bit of cash. The $10 frivolity now might be the $10 we need to pay the electric bill in a couple of months. It really helps to you rid yourself of character flaws when the consequences are so much more dire and clear!

My fulfillment these days comes more from real things such as growing food and finding ways to make do. I focus on the blessings I have such as loved ones, health, basic needs, and even comforts and luxuries such as a car and a computer. When our car recently broke down I spent the time reading and talking to my daughter while my husband walked to the store to buy radiator fluid. If the car dies entirely we will try to repair it ourselves and/or find other ways to get around. There is not much point in freaking out when there is not much you can do about a situation. With less money there is less worry about what to spend that money on. I had the luxury of solving issues with money and goods before. Now I have to rely more on my own resources. I am enjoying the creativity that this requires. Even with the stress and uncertainty of our current situation I feel more alive. I am hopeful that the silver lining of this economic trouble will be others rediscovering that excess goods are an unnecessary drain on your time and energy. Most of us need much less than we have and we are accustomed to having more than the earth can support. I am being forced to reflect on, and adhere to, my values of simplicity and environmental stewardship.I now have more clear opportunity to pass these values on to my daughter.

We just had a baby so the shortage of work feels like a blessing. We may not have money to go out to eat but we have time with our daughter. Waking up in the morning with her without rushing off to work is priceless.

Our town was supposed to be completely decimated by the loss of a large employer. We lost thousands of jobs and yet people here have hope. Our community members have discovered how resilient they are and everyone is coming together to take care of each other. We are rediscovering what being part of a community is all about!

My brother was one of the thousands that lost a job this month. He had just been blessed with three baby girls in October and this is giving him time to take care of them. He loves being a stay-at-home dad!

My husband lost a job he absolutely hated last year. He was always stressed out and under pressure. He was able to find work and his income was cut in half but so was his stress level. We have had so much fun learning how to cut our costs and save money. We are saving more money now than we ever did when he made more and our family is closer than ever before. I have even created my own blog because we feel positively blessed in every way.

It's ok to penny pinch. It's ok to hit up the yard sales and the library. It's ok to use coupons. It's ok to buy used rather than new.

It's ok to be frugal.

I spend less time worrying about money and material stuff and now I'm able to really focus on what matters in life as many of the posts have explained extensively.

I was laid off in December and started a home business. I wish I'd done this years ago. I love the time at home with my kids and our whole family is more relaxed.

Also, we've been making huge progress getting out of debt due to more time to spend on "home economics" and lower interest rates.

We just refinanced our 30 year mortgage into a 15 year mortgage--closed today. We think we'll have the house paid off in five years.

WOOT!