NORMAL - Over the years, Tom and Lori Swearingen have been pretty good at making Tom's paycheck as a corporate pilot stretch as far as possible so Lori, 30, can stay home to raise their three children. | Audio slideshow: Making ends meet

But with gas around $3.60 a gallon, the couple started cutting travel. Lori, a native of Elmhurst, still has a lot of family in the Chicago area.

"Travel to see her family has really tapered off," Tom Swearingen, 31, said. "It may not seem like much because these are short trips, but it begins to add up."

There is not much room for cutting back during the day. Lori Swearingen puts about 12,000 miles a year on their Dodge minivan, dropping Rachel, 5, at school and running errands.

"It's quite a surprise when you put in $20 in gas and it only raises the needle a quarter of a tank," she added.

The couple has started cutting back in other areas, too. Instead of paying to watch television, they hooked up an antenna in the attic and the family watches local stations or DVDs.

Thanks to extended family, Tom and Lori can trade children's clothes to keep up with fast-growing Rachel and her siblings, Joey, 2, and Lauren, 7 months.

In recent years, the couple's total grocery bills have increased by 20 percent from last year.

"Even now, we spend about $100 to $120 … and for the same trip three years ago, we were spending about $50," Lori Swearingen said.

The house has gotten more expensive, too.

"There are things we want to do to the house that we are putting off," Tom Swearingen said. "Any big expense that we can delay we are."

As an example, sewer line replacement left a large mound of dirt and a now-covered trench in the front yard.

"We wanted to hire someone to do the landscaping out front," Tom Swearingen said, "but that's something I will be doing this summer."

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The Swearingens

• Save gas money by traveling less often to see family

• Trade children's clothes with family members and friends with young children

• Cut back on household utilities and turn off furnace pilot light for the summer

• Delay major expenses, including house projects

• Make home repairs themselves when possible