For most middle-class Americans, coping with the wobbly economy might mean a vacation closer to home or fewer restaurant dinners.

For senior citizens on fixed incomes? It means taking the bus to church instead of the car. Trips to food banks for staples like canned beans and rice. Maybe even skipping a meal or a dose of medicine to get through the month.

A recent report by AARP suggests that older Americans may be making some risky choices in the interest of saving money in tough times. The national telephone survey found that 59 percent of people 65 and older have found it more difficult in recent months to pay for essentials including food, gas and medicine. Nearly half said they have postponed paying their utility bills, and 10 percent said they have cut back on medications.

In the Sacramento region, older people also are suffering the effects of the state budget impasse. Some agencies that get funding from the state are shutting down or cutting back programs that serve the elderly.

The result? Fewer meals served to the homebound. Less respite time for people who care for elderly loved ones at home. Busier food banks. More requests for transportation vouchers and renter's assistance.

Calls from financially stressed people ages 60 and older jumped 50 percent during the first six months of this year at 2-1-1 Sacramento, which makes referrals for essential health and human services.

"We are getting an increased volume of calls from people of all ages who are short financially," said vice president Katrina Middleton. "But we are seeing a very definite increase among seniors.

"They are asking for assistance with things like utility bills, food closet referrals, free transportation and housing. They are having some type of emergency in their lives, and the issue usually is money."

At the Sacramento Senior Center in West Sacramento, "people are complaining to me that they're just not making it," said liaison Irene Santiago.

"This economy is hard on everyone, but it is really hard on seniors right now," she said. "Their incomes are fixed. When things keep going up and up, what do you do?"

Nadine Rivas, 76, has "had to change a lot of things" during the past year or so, she said. She got rid of her car and gets around by bus or on foot. She buys her produce at farmer's markets, clips coupons and shops for sales at supermarkets. She is planning to visit a local food bank for the first time.

Every month, Rivas said, it gets a little harder to stretch her $1,000 Social Security check to cover necessities.

"I like the idea of free beans and rice at a food bank, because it seems like every time you go to the grocery store, things are up 10 cents or 15 cents," she said.

Paul Buyama, 70, has coped by dramatically curtailing his driving, and "I only buy things on sale," he said. "I don't waste trips. Sometimes I'll park the car and take a bus.

"It's tough on all of us," he said of the weak economy and rising prices of essentials. "You just have to change your philosophy of living. You have to change your habits."

It's more complicated than that for people served by the Area 4 Agency on Aging, which funds 67 programs that provide meals, transportation, counseling and other services in seven counties in the region. Because state money no longer is flowing, help has vanished for some seniors with critical needs, assistant director Pat McVicar said.

"What is happening right now is very serious," McVicar said. "These are people whose incomes are very limited and are not rising with the cost of food, fuel and medicine."

Should the budget stalemate continue, the Meals on Wheels program will soon stop bringing food to frail seniors in Sutter and Yuba counties, McVicar said. "Most of these people can't make their own meals," she said. "It's devastating. We're quite frustrated."

The state-funded Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center, based in Carmichael, has suspended a program that supports hundreds of families caring for the elderly and disabled at home, said executive director Michelle Nevins.

Such losses, combined with economic pressures, are taking a toll on older people, Nevins said.

"What we often hear from clients these days is that they are having to pick and choose what they can pay for," she said.

Those who take medicines that are not fully covered by Medicare or private insurance "are asking themselves whether their medications are more important than their other everyday expenses. It's a tough call for them, but they are having to make those choices."

Call The Bee's Cynthia Hubert, (916) 321-1082.