With all the price increases on merchandise, as well as gasoliine, I've noticed buying habits are changing. Personally, I have changed my own substantially the last 6 months as well. I just couldn't believe families are finally turning their purchases to the generic instead of brand names.
I went down the soda aisle (or "pop", whatever your area calls it), and noticed all the generic brands were GONE.  I looked at the surrounding brand names, and they were all there untouched. There was no sale on the generic store brand, people had just purchased all of it.
I also noticed in the cookie aisle that all the generic brands were missing - same thing as before, the brand names were untouched. I'm thinking families are definitely changing their buying habits.
Now that the new cars are becoming available, I wonder if people will go ahead and purchase something that costs more just because they will save on gas.  It hardly seems reasonable to me, but then I already have a Focus that is good on mileage. Someone trading down to smaller car from an SUV, it might be a substantial savings for the future. I just worry who will be available to service these cars other than the dealers themselves.
Next summer I'm predicting more home gardens to pop up. With all the tomato scare this year, and now fears in onions, etc., it seems people might decide to forego the pretty lawns and bring out the shovels to plant veggies. I did plant some tomato plants this year, and hope to expand to more grounds next summer once my ankles heal. Nothing like fresh vegetables from the garden!! With all the scare of toxic stuff in store bought vegetables, how else will the vegetarians survive? 
Another thought about the gas saving - keeping the car maintenance up to date is a necessity right now. I would think people will be paying more attention to when an oil change is needed (for those of us without the new breed hybrid cars). Have you noticed how few people actually wash their cars these days? I would say it is a matter of saving money for the gas. 
There was a segment on our local news channel on how people are cutting back to pay for gas. One woman stated she doesn't go to the beauty shop EVERY WEEK anymore - she only goes EVERY TWO WEEKS. As for myself, I go once every 3-6 months!!
So we all have our ways of cutting back during these hard times. We've had to change our buying habits to accommodate our needs. Surely the salary has not increased or our nation would not be in such turmoil. My personal opinion is we all need to revert back to some old fashioned ways of living. Give up those expensive cell phones--do you really need one that navigates you to work and interrupts your day with emails? Do you need to use the clothes dryer when it's a nice summer day to dry clothes outside on a clothesline (yes, they do still exist)? Can you step away from your tv programs to maintain a garden and actually get some exercise? Think about it.
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