My "Plan B" just became my new "Plan A"(SHTF....ongoing)

Thank you, msegk and peakoilmom. It's not the outcome I wanted - I had planned to be living on the cheap in my very own, bought-and-paid-for super-humble little dump of a trailer on my very own little plot of land(still a DREAM for me, at this point) and debt-free in balmy upstate SC by this past Spring. Unfortunately, events beyond
my(and most other folks') control dictated a serious change of plans on my part. I'm an older (50-ish) person, but consider myself creative, reasonably clever, and pretty durn nimble and adaptable, and think I have fared better during this crash and downturn than many folks with 10X my income. It will take me approximately 12 months to undo the financial damage of nearly 8 months of zero-income, self-funded(courtesy of my favorite enabler, CapitalOne) unemployment, and get back to where I was at the beginning of this year, but at least my financial bleeding has stopped, I have a few dollars in my pocket, pay cash for everything as I go, pay all my bills early, and am making progress on my CC debt. To use a metaphor, my ship was hit hard by 4 torpedos in short order:

1)Job loss due to employer getting stupid with me, and me quitting in response.

2)Suddenly being forced to move on VERY short(about 1 week's) notice, 100% unrelated to job-loss.

3)Employers nationwide hemmoraghing jobs by the 100's of thousands shortly after #1 and #2 happened, making finding a job VERY difficult.

4)Having my car`s engine blow up, on the VERY FIRST DAY of starting my new job - 28 miles each way, from where I now live.

I started taking on water at an alarming rate, and my ship started listing, but I've managed to fix all the leaks, and am now slowly bailing out the hold of the water it accumulated. Ever so slowly, the ship is beginnning to right itself. That's where I'm at, at this point, and feel damn lucky to be where I'm at, as there are so many folks out there MUCH worse off than me. Although I am quite a bit worse off than I was just 1 year ago - debt increased by over 100%, rent increased 300% while per-hour wages dropped by 30% - I am still in "positive-mode", making headway on my CC debt every month, paying all my monthly bills early with no problems, and keeping my cubbards filled with food, booze and cigarettes. This is, IMO, a direct benefit from having adapted the caveman/primiitive/super-frugal lifestyle and having gotten very good at living on what most folks would consider starvation wages for this area. Had I not *already* been practicing a minimalist lifestyle for the past 6+ years, I'd probably be in real financial trouble. Instead, I'm actually "comfortable" on a F/T income SO low that, believe it or not, would actually qualifiy me for Section 8 housing and food stamps, LOL, were I so inclined(Thanks but no thanks to gubmint assistance for THIS puppy - homey don't play that game, never has and never will)