Will it ever get better?

The other day I spoke on the phone with a friend...we discussed our girls (she has two girls the same as age as mine), families, teaching (she is a teacher) and more.

We started discussing if the economy/job market will ever get better. Its really scary to think about the times we live in, the lack of money there is and the massive increase on prices of just about everything - gas, milk (any groceries!), vacations and more! AND we started to discuss if things will ever get better?

She mentioned that families with 2 salaries are being encouraged to save 1 and use the other to pay bills. Which had me asking, what do we do in our case? We live on 1 salary from Patrick, since I am a stay at home mom to the girls. Daycare is $200/week or more per child...and if I ever do find a job (which may not happen with the increasing school budget cuts) I am not sure I would make any type of profit. I would be making just enough to pay off the weekly/monthly daycare payments.

I just don't see how families are making it these days. We live in a beautiful used home, with two used cars...but there are some that have new houses, new cars, daycare, and more and living on salaries with minimum wages - how do they do it? Welfare? Support from family members or friends? Loans?

I mean, we are okay...we make just enough to pay our bills and get the weekly/monthly things we need - but we don't save..which is scary...I would like to save money each week, or month and put away for the girls college, a future vacation or even when Patrick gets laid off - but we just can't afford it. Then the discussion of having more children comes up, and honestly I am not ready - but I really don't think we can afford one. I wonder if that's why so many families say "one and done" because of the costs of raising a family these days. Or maybe that's why people have more because at tax season you get $1000 per child that you have (up to a certain amount I think).

I do not want to put the blame on the government, the wars around the world, the rich people in our country or even on the big wigs of hollywood/sports - but I just wonder, where do we look for help? Patrick makes too much money for govt assistance, and because we are American we can't get a loan to start a business like some foreigners can.

How are people surviving this economical crisis? Is it just going to get worse? Will it ever get better? Do I really need to start looking for some type of extra income somewhere? I really don't have any talents, and do not want to start my own business (nor would I know where to begin). I have seen friends make stuff and sell on their own etsy shops - bows, clothing, jewelry, paintings and more...I'm just not sure where to look or where to even start.