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Legislators headed back to their desks to deal with plans to cut $488 million from the state's $7 billion budget Monday.

A brief get together at the Statehouse Monday afternoon with lawmakers trying to make sense of the nearly $500-million dollars in proposed budget cuts.

State Representative Jeff Dunkin knows times are tough and because of that everyone in the palmetto state is pinching pennies.

"It's unfortunate that we're at this point; but we are, and we have some budget cuts to take up.  It's better to make targeted cuts rather than across the board cuts," said Dunkin.

Last week, Governor Mark Sanford asked his agency heads to cut 10-percent from their respective budgets.

Dunkin knows it will hurt everyone's wallets, but says we'll get through it.

"I think everyone is going to be hurting when you've got that much to cut out.  Everyone is going to be affected.  We're going to get through this," said Dunkin.

While it remains unclear if cuts will be across the board, it's very clear they are coming.

"We're gonna get through this.  We're gonna get through this as a lean state," said Dunkin.

A more definite financial fix is expected Tuesday when the House and Senate meet again.