The Downturn: Coping is common thread for two families in different circumstances

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - The Buxton family's life is stacked on shelves and piled into plastic bins in a corrugated metal warehouse behind a fire station in an industrial part of Sacramento, Calif.

For the past four months, the offices of a social service agency have been the closest thing they've had to call home.

Over in Citrus Heights, Calif., the Thomas family started out just trying to cut out frivolous stuff _ Beanie Babies and Pokemon cards, bottled water and soda _ with the goal of making life simpler and less expensive. Then a $300 electricity bill earlier this year kicked basic conservation into high gear.

"If you do a whole bunch of little things, it adds up," says mom Michelle Thomas.

These two families illustrate life on different parts of the economic spectrum amid a downturn that has left no one unscathed.

The state's unemployment rate has reached 7.3 percent, the highest in 12 years. Foreclosures are up 55 percent over last year. And the U.S. Census Bureau recently found that 37.7 million Americans are living in poverty, up from 36.5 million in 2006.

Robert Buxton, who spent six months in Iraq as a truck driver for the Army National Guard in 2005, is struggling to find work to sustain his family after being laid off from a welding job.

"This is a pretty low point in my life to be almost 40 years old and not have any tangible assets for my children," said the 39-year-old father of three.

In May, the Buxtons decided to leave their lives in small-town Ripley, Tenn., where breaking even was a monthly effort. They stuffed their things in a storage unit, and Robert, his wife, Stacy, their three children and the family Labrador named Sugar piled into their 1995 black, two-door Chevy Monte Carlo with a sticker that says, "God Bless the USA."

It was Washington state or bust. They busted in Denver when the car's water pump and alternator went out, and ate up all the savings they had. They made it to Sacramento, Calif., but had no place to call home.

Family Promise of Sacramento, a nonprofit that shelters homeless families, has been where the Buxtons shower and keep their changes of clothes. And every day, at 5 p.m., a shuttle picks them up from the day center to take them to various churches to eat and sleep.

It wasn't what Robert Buxton expected when he left Tennessee. The three-bedroom house they rented there was comfortable enough. But his job as a welder took him away from his family _ to Texas, to Arizona _ and finally laid him off in December. He came back to Tennessee in January and did odd jobs for the owner of their house while Stacy Buxton waitressed at a Greek steakhouse.

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The West seemed promising. Maybe they could make more money, maybe there would be more work, maybe their children _ Kaylan, 16, Paul, 12, and Savannah, 10 _ would learn about diversity beyond black and white, Buxton says.

Instead, their toiletries have a permanent home in overnight bags, they share a shower and two bathrooms with nine others, they have rules like no TV before 3 p.m., and they have to tell their life story, over and over, to strangers at the different churches.

It's not a high price to pay, but it's hard for Robert Buxton, who would rather be reading whatever book he is carrying with him, than talking to anyone. Buxton isn't much of a talker, but when he gets going, his vocabulary and knowledge belie his high school dropout education.

Now at the proverbial bottom, Buxton has a plan to climb out again. After weeks of searching for welding jobs at the local employment office, he found one a few weeks ago at a sheet metal company in North Sacramento. He's trying to save enough for a $1,200 deposit and $1,050 a month in rent for a three-bedroom house in Rio Linda, Calif.

If that doesn't work, there's always re-enlisting in the active duty Army.

"We're not here because of a drug and alcohol background," Buxton says. "We're here because of poor financial choices, and we're trying to figure out how not to make poor financial choices in the future."

For now, it's about saving money for a home so they can pick up their Labrador from an Oakdale, Calif., woman who volunteered to take her. And each night, they go to another host church with 10-year-old Savannah and her teddy bear named Beary tucked under her arm.

"I tell the children, wherever we lay our heads down, and where our hearts are, is home," Robert Buxton says.

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MEET THE THOMASES

Wayne and Michelle Thomas, like many middle-class families, are trying to ensure that the downturn doesn't shatter their long-term dreams.

"I have two kids that want to go to college, and their father makes too much" for them to qualify for federal student aid, says Michelle Thomas, 45, a registered nurse who could go back to work if forced.

After the steep electricity bill _ likely the result of a plugged dryer vent that slowed drying time to two hours for a load of towels _ the Thomas family bought 10 chickens, switched to LED light bulbs, planted a vegetable garden in the front yard and started hanging their laundry out to dry.

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The clothesline is rigged to cross their garage five times, and an Ikea drying rack is set up for underwear and socks. A little forethought is required _ sheets are washed first because they take less than a day to dry, then jeans and towels hang overnight. Dress shirts are hung on hangers, and an arsenal of wooden clothespins sits in a plastic Red Vines bin.

"It's a wonderful way for people to save electricity," says Michelle Thomas, adding that her bill has been cut by half. "It's the simplest thing to do. You can go out and buy a Prius or you can go out to Home Depot and buy some clothesline."

Michelle and Wayne Thomas, a supervisor at SMUD, have been married 25 years and like to live off the grid. Their four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot ranch-style house sits on a half-acre in a semi-rural area.

Their daughters, 18-year-old Kelly and 16-year-old Marissa, are home-schooled. And one pony, three box turtles, two bearded dragons, a desert tortoise, more than a dozen fish, and a menagerie of dogs and cats are all considered part of the family.

There is still plenty of evidence of their consumer past _ a 55-inch TV looms in the living room, and video games and hair products are still priorities for the teenage daughters.

"I'd love to go out and buy a new TV, but I honestly can't justify it in my mind," says Wayne Thomas. "The TV I have is high-def, but I've had it since 2001, so it's one of the really old ones, but it still works."

But conservation and reuse is the new theme. Popcorn, a family favorite, is bought as plain seeds instead of microwaveable bags. The air-conditioner bops between 81 and 85. Freecycle and Craigslist are regular stops on their three computers, and thrift stores have become the shopping destination of choice.

There's a maroon and black dress Michelle Thomas picked up for $7, a gold skirt she bought for $4.

"Bathing suits and underwear and shoes we still buy new," she says. "But we're doing pretty good."

The girls are also being taught lessons about money _ each gets an allowance that she must budget to buy her own clothes and hair products, vet bills and pet food. They buy everything themselves except food.

New video games are still a weakness for Kelly Thomas, but she is more thoughtful about her purchases, she says.

"I ask questions now," says Thomas, who chose to take classes at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif., instead of a four-year college to save money. "Why am I buying this? Am I going to use it? Is it worth it?"

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© 2008, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).