For the most part, the mortgage crisis we've been hearing about has related to individuals and their home mortgages. But it was inevitable that a flagging economy was going to be more readily apparent in the commercial sector sometime soon. The Associated Press reports that shopping malls are feeling the pain, with a few properties going into foreclosure and more to soon follow.

It's not hard to envision how and why this is happening. Retailers have been struggling for most of the year, and the massive number of shoppers out on Black Friday probably won't be enough to save several big names. As retailers go out of business or file bankruptcy, the shopping malls are losing revenue, putting their survival in question as well.

I never like to see businesses close their doors or people lose their jobs, but I can't help but feel like some of this is necessary. Americans have been overspending for years, and maybe this is a fine time for consumers to cut back on their spending, even if it is not by choice. It's easy to see how in my own life, I've been buying more than I needed, and that cutting back is the wise thing to do. Short term there will be pain for retailers and their landlords, but hopefully this will be an opportunity for consumers to become more responsible with their spending and make some long-term changes in their financial behavior.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

From the recent resurgence of John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath," it looks like people in a recession are happy to be entertained by a tale of the Great Depression.

The 1940 movie based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Steinbeck has gained such popularity recently that from September 2008 to October 2008, rentals of "The Grapes of Wrath" on Netflix rose 10%, according to the Nov. 17 issue of Business Week Magazine. A theatrical play based on the novel is also out.

If you haven't taken a look at the plot since it was assigned reading in high school, it's worth another look today. (although now you can just rent the movie.) The parallels to today are strong. People are losing their jobs, unable to pay the mortgage and forced to move elsewhere to find work.

During the Depression, it was so common for homeowners to share housing costs by renting rooms to strangers that a whole romantic milieu arose from the practice, with teenage (or, in Lolita's case, younger) girls falling for the remote, lonely, mysterious older men who shared a kitchen table with their family. Signs show that practice may be returning. It's green -- more people on your square footage means your ecological footprint lessens! It's friendly -- sharing your lives with others, even just at occasional mealtimes, is a way to break down the barriers that keep our communities stark and lonesome. Best of all, it's financially savvy -- spending to light and heat a 2,000 square-foot home when you really only need 1,200 or so is both expensive and hard to avoid, without the considerable and not easily reversible process of selling your home and buying a new one.

Rooms for rent has been in the news a lot lately, and I know a lot of families here in Portland who choose to offer one or two rooms to a singleton who's willing to help with the mortgage payment, the electric bill, and maybe the gardening or the bike repair. My littler sister has shared a room in a family friend's home for several years, and been through all the ups and downs.

I've discovered, in my experience with house share situations, that it's important to very clearly set expectations ahead of time; whether you will share the food expenses, who can use the kitchen, when; what the rules are about cleaning up after oneself in common areas; how comfortable you feel about leaving the bathroom door unlocked; what exactly is going to be charged for rent and utilities (a flat dollar amount? a percentage?); whether the phone/internet/leftovers are on- or off-limits. What about in your town? Have you rented a room, or are you thinking about it? Any tips to share?

Financial crisis and scams go together as well as peanut butter and jelly. These scams have been around longer than the Internet, which is hardly the first technology used by con artists. During the Great Depression the use of telegrams to pitch "investment" offers to wealthy Northerners exploded.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Microsoft reports that email scams are on the rise as unscrupulous individuals try to capitalize on these uncertain times. Tim Cranton, an Internet Safety Expert at Microsoft, recently told Reuters that email scams are not only more sophisticated but they are also taking advantage of the public's fears surrounding bank closings and mortgage issues.

On top of these new scams which related to current events, there are also plenty of email scams which prey upon our desire to get rich quick. These scams often require users to pay a fee in order to claim the winnings of a foreign lottery. In case you didn't see where this is going; the winnings never arrive.

The common worry is that consumers, desperate for money to support themselves, will set aside good judgment and send what little money they do have to these scammers. Most of us don't think we would ever fall for an email scam but a recent survey from Microsoft found that 25% of competent computer users are worried that they will get taken by one of these well-crafted cons!

Keep this in mind as you gather for Thanksgiving in the coming weeks; make sure you tell your relatives to watch out for emails that seem too good to be true or purport to save them money on their mortgage. In fact you can click the "Email this" link below to send this article directly to your friends and family. Keep your money safe and don't respond to email solicitations that you have even the smallest doubt about. You can learn more about email scams and how to protect yourself at Microsoft's Security at Home section.

If it's true that less is more, Bill and Sharon Kastrinos have got it all. The couple have recently moved from their 1800-square foot home to a house that looks more like a shed. The first floor (that's right, this is a two-story home) holds a small sitting area, tiny kitchen, and bathroom in 98 square feet. The upstairs is their 56-square foot bedroom, and their car functions as their dresser so they don't have to store extra clothes in their limited living space.

The Kastrinos say that downsizing so drastically was a major adjustment and sacrifice, but that it also has a huge upside. The house cost only $15,000, and their utilities are a mere $15 a month. Their wheeled and easily mobile abode is currently parked on their daughter's property, but they can easily tow their home and plug into any RV park in the country if they want to relocate.

Bill Kastrinos is now building homes similar to his and selling them to others who wish to or need to downsize, or folks who just want to own a home but can't afford much more than this. He says that inquiries for the homes, which sell for around $15,000-$20,000, have increased recently.

The idea of shedding (no pun intended) all excess and moving into a home that wouldn't require a mortgage is definitely appealing, but I don't think I could make this my permanent lifestyle -- could you do it?

Despite my Ivy League MBA and my role as a founder of a personal finance web site, I haven't done much in the way of planning my financial situation. All of my financial milestones in the past decade or so have been accidental, serendipitous, or just a gut response to a disaster.

I was pregnant pretty much the moment after I was engaged, at 28. Through the birth of three boys (all of which came along a little sooner than I expected), I worked in a unusual career that I made up out of whole cloth, starting out in dotcom operations management, finance and product development and ending as a professional blog producer. While it paid fairly well, it did not pay nearly as well as the jobs of my business school peers; and it became very difficult to make extra room in my budget to pay my huge student loan payments. Instead of paying down my student loans, I've only compounded them.

One thing I did brilliantly was to buy a house in an up-and-coming neighborhood immediately upon getting pregnant with my first child, and never refinancing it. Buying it was a gut reaction to the nesting hormones, but it turned out wonderfully. Four years later a Starbucks went in two blocks away, and my home's value doubled. Early on, I took out a home equity loan to (hiding my head in shame) pay for our wedding; I'm thankful I never refinanced the house, keeping my ARM that was garnered at the peak of my credit score. While I was seriously guilty of living outside of my means as a young bride and mama, after I became pregnant with my second son I buttoned down the hatches, canceling all my credit cards and vowing to live on what I made.

That one really good decision -- never to refinance my mortgage -- has paid off with a low-ish monthly payment and a fast-reducing principal balance. And with my new philosophy of "no debt no way never," I know at least I won't be facing a tough credit review at my local bank.

Don't you hate the first time you make a certain kind of purchase? We've all been in the situation when even the tidbits of advice you have heard over the years don't fully prepare you for the transaction.

The first time I felt this way about a deal was when I bought my first car. I made some goofy decisions and even though I did it half right I still felt like I could have gotten a better deal if I had been through the process before. As my wife and I are exploring home ownership I can't help but think that I am going to feel the same way about our home purchase.

Yesterday I found a great resource which really raised my hopes for taking out a mortgage and buying a home without remorse. The aptly titled article, "How to Get a Mortgage" on Mahalo.com breaks down the process of getting a mortgage into bite size morsels of knowledge so detailed and applicable it should be printed in pamphlets and handed out in front of every bank!

Right now may be a great time to refinance a home mortgage. Residential mortgage rates are currently at historical lows. CNN Money and Finance, reported on September 11, 2008, that the interest rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage had dipped to 5.93%. Economists and financial analysts are indicating that rates could drop even lower yet.

In it's simplest form, the decision to refinance a home mortgage is subject to one basic premise: the consumer needs to decide if refinancing presents adequate enough financial advantage to make the proposition worthwhile. Easy and accurate mortgage calculators can help the consumer to compare the cost of maintaining their current mortgage, against the costs of obtaining and maintaining a new one. To do this, the consumer should have specific numbers regarding costs and fees, from banks they may wish to do business with. By having solid estimated numbers from potential lenders, the consumer may prepare mortgage budget projections and compare those projections to their current mortgage budget to determine how much they might reduce their monthly mortgage expenses by refinancing.

Ed McMahon has finally found a buyer for his multi-million dollar house avoiding foreclosure. Reportedly, his mortage lenders filed notice of default in Februrary when McMahon was over $644,00 in arrears. When McMahon was interviewed regarding his money woes, he blamed his financial problems on having broken his neck about 18 months ago, preventing him from working.

I certainly can empathize with health issues causing financial hardship, but where's the bucks? McMahon worked for over 30 years on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, was the host of Star Search and spokesperson for dozens of products. I repeat: "Where's the bucks?"

While several accounts connect McMahon's problems to the credit squeeze and U.S. housing downturn, I think it has a lot more to do with poor money management. At 85 years old, with a career that spanned decades, you would think that McMahon would be financial secure. But I have seen this before.

A tragic case in Taunton, Mass., where a 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself after faxing a letter to her mortgage company, demonstrates a common issue in many marriages; secrets about money. According to police, Carlene Balderrama fax read, in part, "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."

"I had no clue," said spouse John Balderrama. He further explained that his wife had handled all the couple's finances and he no idea that she hadn't paid the mortgage in 42 months. But, in fact, there were clues. According to court records, Mr. Balderrama had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times from 2004 to 2006. Obviously there were long-standing financial issues that this couple were not facing together.

This is not unusual. Spouses more often lie to each other about money than any other issue. From hiding purchases and bills to opening single accounts, spouses often minimize their own spending. And in many households, only one spouse is actively involved in handling the family finances.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

My wife and I have the money to pay off our mortgage. Should we pay it off or invest for a higher return?

-Richard

Thinking of re-financing your mortgage? Check out the Dolans' guide to negotiating the best mortgage for you.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Some have asked me what's the best use for the $1,200 tax rebate (families with kids get more). That was an easy answer for me personally -- I paid extra on my mortgage principal.

You probably realize that each time you make the payment on a 30-year mortgage only a small portion goes toward actually paying off the principal, while a much larger share of it goes toward paying interest. For example, I calculated the payment for a $200,000 mortgage loan at a 5.5% rate using a mortgage calculator at Bankrate.com. The payment for a 30-year loan would be $1135.58. When one makes the first payment on that loan $218.81 goes toward the principal of the loan and $916.67 goes toward interest.

I then used that calculator to determine how much I would save if I put an extra $1,200 toward the mortgage. The mortgage would be paid off five months earlier and I would save a total of $5,677.90 in payments. You can do the same calculation for your mortgage at Bankrate.com and see what that unexpected $1,200 could do for you.

Personally I've made the commitment to be totally debt free before I start retirement. I've found the best way to eliminate debt is the Money Merge Account (TM) system and I've been working with Theresa Bolton Lynch, who introduced the system to me after I wrote about the snowball effect for paying down debt. I've dubbed this system the snowball effect on steroids.

Lita Epstein has written more than 20 books including the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Improving Your Credit Score.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

My husband and I are 62. We are debt- and mortgage-free. Our savings, however, are not as high as we'd like. What can we do to make sure we still have money for when we retire in a few years?

Joyce

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice on all of your retirement questions and concerns at Dolans.com.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Given that year over year property appreciation in the double digits is no longer seen as a birthright,, many retirees and soon-to-be retirees are feeling cash-strapped and aren't sure about how to plan for their futures.

In this great interview with Brian Williams, personal finance queen Suze Orman opines that people who are planning to stay in their current homes for life should make paying off their mortgages by age 63 their top financial priority. Your mortgage is $1,500 per month, by paying it off quickly you effectively reduce your retirement expenses by $1,500 per month -- it's pretty hard to make that up with savings, after taxes.

Suze's right, in the current environment: with CDs and savings accounts paying under 3%, paying off a mortgage at 6% makes sense. If interest rates rise and more attractive conservative investments become available, this strategy will lose its appeal.

Our man Abelicio Padilla has been blogging about his personal financial situation and he has been seeking advice for making sound money decisions. I wrote this piece as my input into his situation. If you'd like more background before you proceed, read Abelicio Padilla's interesting blog posts here.

Now here's my input:

It sounds like you have a plan Abe. However, I'd like you to think a little more about if you really want to sell that house. The market is down right now which means you probably won't get your best selling price for it. Also, did you consider that if you sell the house, you'll lose your mortgage interest deduction when you file your taxes? That deduction loss will cut into the monthly savings you expect to get by selling. Even though you won't notice it month to month, you'll feel it when you file your yearly income taxes. Consider also the upset that moving can cause. It's expensive. It will disrupt operations. In the long run It could cost you more than you think.