I’m a big fan of financial expert Suze Orman. She has a no nonsense approach when it comes to financial advice and sometimes brutally honest with people asking for help.

Suze has put together a recession rescue plan with plenty of helpful advice and links to resources. Well worth checking out.

cnn.com reports:

Do you know what your family would do if you lost your job — or worse, your home? Financial expert Suze Orman is ready to help you devise a recession rescue plan to survive — and possibly thrive — during this deepening financial crisis.

Families are also losing their homes at a staggering rate. Each day, another 10,000 homes are foreclosed, forcing families to turn to shelters filled to capacity. Left with no place else to go, some people are putting makeshift roofs over their heads in tent cities.

As the crisis continues, it’s easy to let fear take over — but it doesn’t have to. Orman’s five-step plan can help you rise above and take control. “There’s only one person that’s going to save you right now, and that’s yourself,” she says. “You have got to get on what I’m calling the ’save yourself movement.’ Each and every one of you has to have your own personal financial stimulus action plan.”

Step 1: Live on half

Whether you’re single or in a double-income household, Orman says you need to live on only half of what you’re used to — and put the rest in the bank. “If all of a sudden you find yourself without a job — or your partner finds themselves without a job — you are now going to have your income cut by 50 percent almost immediately,” Orman says.

Unemployment also only makes up about 50 percent of your income, Orman says. Oprah.com: How to apply for unemployment

By living on half now, Orman says you’ll know whether you can really afford to pay your bills if the worst happens. “When you are freaked out, that is not the time that you go through your expenses and go, ‘Should I cut here?’” she says.

Read rest of Suze Orman’s Recession Rescue Plan.