MIRAMAR, Fla. -- The housing crisis, employment insecurity, the weak dollar and the rising prices of gas and food comprise the perfect financial storm.

"This is a financial hurricane, in my opinion, that has rolled on shore and you just don't know how long it's going to last," said financial expert Suze Orman. "But, I think you're going to see it last a good six months, a year or longer."

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Orman said it is time to stop spending and hunker down.

"If we do not have the cash, we do not buy it," she said. "We don't continually upgrade our homes. We don't continually upgrade our cars. We don't continually buy new clothes to impress people we don't even know or like."

Orman said to put your financial house in order, reign in expenditures and stop using credit cards.

"Simply pay for everything with cash," she said. "You no longer have the cash -- guess what? You can no longer buy it."

Use any left-over cash to pay off high-interest credit card debt.

"After the credit card debt has gone, always the 401k up to the point of the match, then an emergency fund is a necessity," she said.

Next, pay down your mortgage and fix your adjustable rates.

"I would be refinancing, if you can. And fix the interest rate right here and right now. Because, I think, in a year or two from now you will see interest rates a lot higher," she said.

If you are in danger of losing your home, Orman said not to tap your retirement. You would be throwing good money after bad.

"You are not to take money out of your 401k as a loan or withdrawal or a withdrawal from any retirement account you have out there, on any level, to save a home," she said. "Are we even close to the bottom in real estate? I don't think so."

Want to sell your home?

"You'd better do a fire sale on that house," Orman said.

Want to buy one?

"You're not looking for a deal. You're looking for a steal," she said.

As for the federal rebate checks, Orman had straightforward advice.

"I want you to stash the cash," she said. "I would put the cash in the highest yielding money market account or savings account that you can find. Or, use it to pay down credit card debt. You are not to use it to take a vacation, to buy a new stereo, to get a new cell phone. You are not to stimulate the economy with this money."

Instead, Orman said to stimulate your own economic situation.

"This is the time that you don't stop investing," she said. "You continue to invest. You continue to make sure you have diversification in good quality stuff. And, eventually, years from now you'll be sitting pretty."