It's time for us to tighten our belts.

Home sales are increasing in activity, in spite of the downturn for the economy. Home ownership truly is the American dream. You might have ridden the wave of property inflation and found that today's prices are back to normal or even more affordable than that -- affordable both in price and in mortgage terms.

Interest rates are low and may be dropping slightly lower. Buying power is at a high with wonderful values surrounding us. Placing most of your life's savings into your home is a safe bet for long-term appreciation. Real estate should not be thought of as a fast turnover market. It is a market that is typically slow to change. Appreciation may not be rapid but it most likely will be safe and consistent.

This is the kind of market in which our parents felt safe placing their hard-earned money into as a home down payment. This is the kind of market where one would like to pay off their home and feel comfortable with our economy. Our economic state these days does not lend itself to comfort. Most of us have lost value in our market-based retirement accounts this past week.

But think about this . . . what if you owned your home free and clear?

This may be the time to plan to be conservative -- conservative in your purchase of a home and conservative in the payment of your mortgage. It was not long ago when I was advising my clients to make one extra mortgage payment each year directly to principal reduction and look at paying off the 30-year mortgage in approximately 18 years. Let's go back to being conservative. Not just because we want to do this but now we must do this.

Educational programs on TV and the Internet are assisting in ways to economize. Sometimes we must listen to this direction, tighten our belts and move forward in a conservative and cautious manner, such as purchasing an affordable home using 25 percent of your income for your mortgage payment.

Using 33 percent of your income for total debts is the conservative way to look at purchasing in today's economy. In this way, one can still save money and enjoy life without the stress of payments that are too big for your comfort zone.

Placing one extra payment towards your principal balance is a method of "forced savings" in a solid and conservative manner. Forcing oneself to save before spending is another cautious and conservative method of budgeting in this tough economy.

Passing up the latte, conserving on energy usage and purchasing needs instead of wants will get us into a more comfortable world.