Editor's note: One in a series of stories assessing how last fall's financial meltdown and the Great Recession have changed our lives.

BY CANDICE CHOI AND EILEEN AJ CONNELLY

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- If the Great Recession has taught people one thing, it's this: They need to take charge of their finances.

It's a lesson plenty are heeding. People are saving more and spending less. The personal savings rate has risen to more than 4 percent after sinking to near zero in the months before last fall's meltdown..

In ways big and small -- from scrutinizing their bills and joining credit unions to scaling back weddings and college plans -- people are finding creative ways to deal with the worst recession in a generation. In short, there's a quiet revolution taking place in the way people save, borrow and spend that represents a retreat from old habits, and the first steps toward new ones.

For years, the traditional savings account has been a quaint relic of the past. There were just too many other things to do with our money -- and most involved spending it. Now, many people are reassessing their approach to socking money away.

Credit isn't as easy to get anymore, so people are getting creative to find new sources of funds. The credit crunch helped fuel the growth of what's called peer-to-peer lending, in which companies enable individuals to make loans to one another. One of these startups, The Lending Club, issued 446 loans worth $4.3 million in August alone.

Many cardholders, meanwhile, have been surprised to see their credit limits cut. Credit card companies slashed limits for 58 million cardholders, or about a third of consumers, in the 12 months ending in April, according to a report issued last month by FICO, the company that produces the most widely known credit scores. A majority of the cardholders had good credit scores when the cuts were made.