* "I might have to take two jobs," said Alex Aguilar, who was working on his car Friday afternoon on Albion Street in Bridgeport.
* A cook at a Westport restaurant, Aguilar said his gas tank is taking more and more of his money.
* Forget about meals out, a drink after work, getting the car cleaned and detailed by a professional — all the money for these things "I got to put it in the tank," he said.
* "No more going to dinner on Fridays," he said, standing in the parking lot of Syms on Black Rock Turnpike. "No more long trips to New Hampshire."
* "Soup and salad is $8," he said. The deli owner tells him the price is going to cover electricity and heat.
* "All my life, my mother always had it warm. Now I go over there and I say 'I'm freezing, mom,' " he said.
* "The economy is tough," said Guzman, who has two children, ages 12 and 8. In just a year, his family's food bill has gone from about $150 a week to $250 and sometimes $300 a week, he said, adding, "Everything is double."
* "Heating oil dealers usually never want the winter to end," Herb said. "This year, they are yearning for the season to end because continued cold will push their customers further into arrears."
* What's scary about this situation, compared to economic downturns of the past, Herb said, is that people have jobs and are still struggling to pay bills.
* According to Riley, it's as if life's basic necessities — like food, shelter and heat — are slipping just beyond many people's grasp.
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