It’s been years since those horrifying granny cat food stories, but the issues raised still exist. In tight times, people often have to give up what they previously considered luxuries just to manage the day-to-day necessities of life. These days we’re hearing about couples in their 70s, who saved for retirement their entire adult lives and now have to give up their dreams of traveling the country in a Winnebago because, while they were finally able to purchase their home on wheels, they suddenly can’t afford to buy the petrol to power it. Even closer to home for most of us is the other stuff we have to give up because of this non-recession we find ourselves in.

A friend of mine is doing all she can to convince her teenage daughter to hold off on attending driving school, which costs about $300 (when did schools stop offering free driver’s ed?). Aside from the $300 savings, my friend and her husband are saving money on gas and probably a third car for the teen. I only hope they can find some other, more inexpensive, way to keep their daughter satisfied until the lure of independence that a car offers turns a teenage girl into a whining little princess.

As for me, I have almost entirely given up indulging in entertainment … except for television and Netflix (the least expensive plan they have, of course). I haven’t been to the movie theatre since December (at least the movie I saw then was good, “The Great Debaters.”). Until this weekend, I hadn’t been to a live music concert in over two years, and of course I got the least expensive tickets on the lawn and brought my own food. A small sacrifice, indeed, but it really taught me that giving up a little really isn’t as difficult as most of us think.

In recent weeks, I’ve read a number of stories about how people—singles, couples, families, students—are making ends meet by giving up some of the stuff they love. From small things like manicures and model cars to big things like family vacations and four-wheel drive trucks, people are making sacrifices. So what are you giving up to make it in this economy?