While economists debate whether the country is in a recession, consumers are being buffeted by skyrocketing prices, growing debt, layoffs, the subprime lending squeeze and a stock market roller coaster.

While you may not be able to control the price of oil or the prime rate, there are some simple things you can do to shore up your finances, safeguard your future and ride out whatever the economy throws at you.

Here's a list of ideas that hopefully will help you get through any hard times, plus tips if the hard times have already hit your household.

Dealing with hard times

1. Eliminate the nonessentials. One way to avoid putting spending on automatic pilot: Write down everything you buy and the price. Then go through the list and "be brutal," says Nancy Register, associate director for the Consumer Federation of America.

"You need to make sure you're not spending any money that doesn't absolutely, positively need to be spent," he says. "A lot of people are spending money frivolously on wants they consider needs."

If you have kids, "It's a great time to explain wants versus needs," says Linda Sherry, director of national

The stock market's wild gyrations make this a good time to check on your 401(k).

No panic moves, mind you.

Instead, put your portfolio through its paces to make sure it's doing what it needs to do to help you reach retirement in good financial shape.

Here are four pieces of advice worth taking:

1. Consider Being More Aggressive

Recent events notwithstanding, stocks perform better than other investment vehicles over time. The typical stock fund averaged a 10.4% annual return from 1926 to 2005, compared with 3% for inflation, less than 6% for bond funds and less than 4% for Treasuries. And while stocks can be volatile, the risk of holding them diminishes over time.

Stocks have outpaced both bonds and Treasury bills during more than 75% of rolling five-year periods since 1926, according to Ibbotson Associates, a Chicago-based investment research firm owned by Morningstar. Look at 10-year periods, and stocks won 85% of the time. For 15-year periods, the percentage jumps to 92%. Your allocation to stocks should match your time horizon and risk tolerance

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's offer to help insure municipal bonds assuaged some of the broader market's credit concerns Tuesday, but the troubled bond insurers may have little interest in extra coverage for their best assets.

Buffett's reinsurance offer wouldn't cover any of the subprime mortgage debt that's much more likely to cause problems for the bond insurers, and Berkshire Hathaway would require a substantial premium for covering the municipal bonds. Credit rating agencies were already worried the insurers won't have enough cash available to cover a potential spike in claims.

Stocks on Wall Street surged after Buffett discussed a few details of his offer to three companies to reinsure about $800 billion of their municipal bonds in an interview on CNBC, but two of the bond insurers have rejected the deal and analysts said it appeared unlikely.

Reinsurance is coverage that insurance companies purchase when they want to completely or partly insure the risk they have assumed for their customers.

"I really don't think this does much for anyone but Warren Buffett," said Kevin Giddis, fixed-income strategist at Morgan Keegan. "The thought of an insurer giving away its best business and their only