America's Money: In their own words

Small business owner and consultant, 25, New York, N.Y.

I own a small business renting vacation rentals I own in the Shenandoah Mountains, outside of Washington, D.C. The past six months have been hard to rent due to gas prices.

People think twice about a two-hour commute for a weekend trip. I've had to lower my prices and offer a $25 credit towards gas to keep them booked. Luckily, I can still book them but I'm not profiting as much as I used to.

I used to work in Northern Virginia and commuted 140 miles a day for work, sometimes more, as a technology consultant. A little over a year ago I made a move to New York City and took a new job as a consultant in Web site optimization. Now I depend on public transportation. Since then, I've saved $11,630 in gas!

Luckily for me I was able to change jobs to eliminate a creeping monthly cost of $600 or so for gas and still maintain my vacation rental business. I had to morph into the ever so changing economy!

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