Suze’s 5 Recession Steps

Suze Orman tells it like it is, she’s my money hero. And unfortunately she predicts two to three more years of this money mess. So here are her 5 steps we can take now to help ourselves survive the situation.

Step 1) Live on half- That’s right. Whatever you’re spending now, just cut it in half. Whoever does, gets a prize. That prize is, not having to live in a tent and pee in a jar.

Step 2) Stash your cash- Forget her previous advice, and now just let that credit card balance sit there while you pay the minimum. Cash is king so hang on to yours. Um yeah, this also means no new charges. Come on, not charging can be fun. Pretend it’s 1812 and there are no credit cards, just bad, dirty men with guns that shoot real bullets when you owe them.

Step 3) Know the government stimulus package- This means take advantage if you can: COBRA premium subsidies and an $8,000 federal tax credit for 2009 first time home buyers.

Step 4) Make your home affordable- There are two parts to this, a home modification program and a refinancing program.

Step 5) Look at what you have, instead of what you had- Maybe her most important step. Cause if you can’t do this, the others are mostly crap.

So get over yourself, and look around to see all that you have now. Notice so many others with much less? Go do something for someone in need. This last one was mine, I’d like to think Suze would approve.