I think Halo your group of people has the right idea I wish we had something like that here!
With me being at home on disability and down to one income we've changed a lot of our old patterns and habits. We used to eat out a lot that has stopped, we have gone from two vehicles to one, we only go out on Saturday's to do our errands and we don't go all over the city like we used to or just buy everything at one store. I shopped around for better insurance rates for our car & home, got a 20% discount on all of our other household bills, I plan our meals out for the week and make large potions of foods and freeze them all. I bake more now I am getting pretty good at making breads and rolls, in the spring and summer I plant our garden for veggies and herbs.
I find there are more people now going to the final sale rake in the grocery stores at one point in time you never saw that many people checking those racks out. I buy veggies that I can take home chop up and freeze right away, buy bananas to make bread and muffins with. I don't know what to say about the economy anymore it's all totally out of control. I'd like to think it can't get much worse in our society but I know it can.