Ben Stein has written an article on Yahoo!Finance about what to do in a bust:

Buy more.

Yes, simplistic, but oh-so-true. It's hard to get the gumption to buy when prices are falling, but if you can afford it (read: how can you not afford it?), buy when prices are falling.

This is the reasoning: If at $100 you thought the stock, for example, was fairly valued (you bought it, right?), then at $50 it's a bargain. So, buy more.

The housing industry is the same. Ben offers this sage commentary about people and their penchant for counting on the recent real estate phenomenon of ever-increasing prices:

...it's a reminder that you shouldn't count on your home to make you rich. Homes are for living in. They shouldn't be your main investment unless you're a builder.

It seems that the cable, phone, cell, and internet bills never cease rising. Forbes has a brief article on how to save money on tech services like these. I can personally attest to the efficacy of calling your current provider and informing them of a competing offer you've received.

In fact, I recently called Comcast, my cable and internet provider, and told them that I was considering a competing offer from DirecTV. While the retention specialist said that she couldn't lower my cable bill, she did say that she could reduce my internet bill by $10 a month for a year.

That 5 minute phone call saved me $120. And I really didn't want to leave anyway.

Another thing I've done is to unbundle my services to get the best overall deals. "Experts" would have you believe that bundled internet, phone, and cable will save you money. But looking at my only viable option, Comcast's triple play, I save money by getting my phone service through Vonage. Not sure if anybody can beat $16 a month for 500 minutes of phone service.

I wish that some company came along and truly offered everything I needed for the best price. But why would they?

Money magazine has published the 50 Smartest Things You Can Do with Your Money.