Recession hits me!

Backtobasics has it right: small things can help out, especially if you can be handy about something.
Just lost my job and the previous employer was fighting my claim (they lost) but this was a month without income from my side (the wife works for the state of NY, so every two weeks had to be budgeted completely). Have a garage, have my tools, have my skill of turning a wrench for the past 20 years (doing both body work and wrench turning) being ASE and Ford certified in a lot of areas helped my wife and out a great deal until unemployment came in.
Upstate NY, Finger Lakes area is a glut of out of work body men and technicians, especially with dealerships closing, but it's not hard to beat the $80-100 an hour labor rate that the dealerships and chain stores are charging. Even the local independants are charging $60-75 an hour.
So if you have a marketable skill, market it! You might not get all of the 15% back, but you'll find it helps.

Good luck and Keep the Faith