DURING AN election year, we're supposed to consider how we're doing compared to four years ago.

I'll let greater minds than mine ponder how we're faring as a country. But I can tell you, there's only one way to describe how I feel these days, compared to 2008.

I've gotten a lot cheaper. Don't know if it's because of the economy or because I've gotten older--or a combination of the two.

I just know that lots of us are like the workers we read about in a recent story by reporter Jim Hall. He was writing about a facility that closed and people hadn't gotten paid for the last two weeks or so of work.

One woman didn't have the money for her car payment and rent. She faced losing her wheels and the roof over her head.

Someone commented about living paycheck to paycheck, and it made me think. Who isn't living from one payday to another in these times?

I mentioned that to another co-worker, who said that she and her husband are hanging on to old vehicles because they don't want to take on a new-car payment.

I heard that.

For the third summer in a row, we drove our Chevrolet truck to the Outer Banks, hoping and praying that it would make the trip there and back safely.

It did, and we're grateful.

We've taken the S-10 to the beach since we bought it in 2000. As more than 250,000 miles have clicked by, we can't help but wonder how much longer we can keep it on the road.

We're hoping my Honda, which has more than 130,000 miles, will be with us for many more moons.

Clearly, we're not the kind of people who get a new vehicle every three years, but we're even more determined to hold on to both as long as possible.

My daughter reminded me of how cheap we've gotten. She and her family joined us at the beach, and she made a comment about the toggle switch that Lou, my companion, had put on the hair dryer.

When its original switch busted, he came up with a quick fix so we wouldn't have to buy a new one.

She joked that the hair dryer was almost as old as she was.