Lessons From the Recession: 10 Things We Learned in 2010

Times are hard but, as they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. The WalletPop team collectively learned these lessons from the recession:

1. Our Houses Are Homes, Not Piggy Banks or Retirement Funds

Thank you Big Banks for teaching us this poignant lesson. You might have found a way to beat it into our thick skulls without displacing 3 million families through foreclosures this year, but nevertheless it was a lesson we needed to learn. Experts predict that by the time the housing market regains its sea legs, as many as 25 million homes will have been lost to foreclosure.