Recession

As economic troubles keep diners at home, restaurants are starting to cut back on portion sizes and are using cheaper ingredients -- even high-end hot spots. In New York, restaurant owners admit to shrinking lobsters, subbing shiitake mushrooms for morels and offering discount appetizers.

Larry Crowe, AP

To combat high food prices, many shoppers are turning to bulk purchases, which is driving up sales of stand-alone freezers. A new study shows that sales were up 7 percent in the first six months of the year.

M. Spencer Green, AP

Soaring prices for scrap metal may make demolition derbies a thing of the past. Owners who used to sell their worn-out wheels for $50 to $100 are turning to scrap dealers instead, getting nearly triple the price.

Al Fenn, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Cities are cracking down on people who steal from recycling bins, but the practice is getting so widespread that some weekly newspaper publishers going further and hiring private detectives and setting up stakeouts to catch poachers in the act.

Paul Sakuma, AP

With foreclosures at an all time high, homeless is rising sharply. One study says that 54 percent of foreclosure victims list moving into emergency shelters as one of their plans. More details.

Mario Tama, Getty Images

Swearing by strategies like coasting with their engines off, filling their tires to dangerous capacity and suffering in the summer heat instead of cranking up the A/C, "hypermilers" obsessively coax dozens more miles out of each gallon. More details.

David McNew, Getty Images

Joshua Persky, left, an unemployed financial engineer, took to the streets of New York wearing a sign saying "MIT Graduate for Hire" More details.

Mark Lennihan, AP

Philadelphia Sheriff John D. Green took the mortgage mess into his own hands this spring when he refused to hold a court-ordered foreclosure auction to try to give homeowners more time to work out a deal with their lenders.

Philadelphia Sheriffs Department

Michigan's Oakland County and New York's Suffolk County may join many companies across the country that are considering four-day workweeks for employees to try to cut gas costs.

Ted S. Warren, AP

There may be a lot more kids around in your neighborhood this summer as families seem to be cutting back on sending kids to camp, or will be sending them for shorter stays. Many private camps are reporting drops in enrollment, while non-profit camps are reporting little growth.

Jim Cole, AP

Arden B, a sister chain to teen-apparel retailer Wet Seal, could be one of the casualties of weak back-to-school sales. The specialty store, which caters to people in their 20s, is in a considerable slump.

Frank Franklin II, AP

The Limited Too, a division of Tween Brands Inc., that catered to 7-14-year-old girls, has already lost out. All 600 stores will be converted lower-priced Justice brand, which just launched in 2004. Demo, a sister chain of Pacific Sunwear, is also closing up shop.

Mark Lennihan, AP

The one teen-oriented store that is thriving the best is Urban Outfitters, which also owns Anthropologie and Free People, with sales up 13 percent overall.

George Widman, AP

It's not just teen brands that are suffering. Ruehl, a spin-off of Abercrombie & Fitch that is aimed at older shoppers, is also struggling, but the company is sticking with the concept for now.

Candice C. Cusic, Chicago Tribune / MCT

A shopper passes a freezer for sale at a Home Depot store Wednesday, Aug. 27l, 2008, in Chicago. Sales in the first six months are up more than 7 percent from last year as shoppers nationwide are re-embracing the deep freezer, stashing bulk-sized purchases as they work to combat rising food prices.

M. Spencer Green, AP

New freezer models, like this Frost Free Chest Freezer by Electrolux, are making it easier for people to organize and use bulk purchases, which save them money when shopping for food.

Electrolux

Stand-alone freezers retail for between $399 and $799, and new ones are energy efficient. This model from Electrolux won four of the European Commission's five energy efficiency awards, known as Energy+.

Electrolux