Setting priorities for your DIY bailout

In the aftershocks of the financial crisis and with billions of dollars flying in stimulus, TARP, and other tools, have you been left wondering where your bailout is? Takeaway contributor, Beth Kobliner has gotten that question a lot: she’s the author of ?Get a Financial Life.?

For the next several Wednesdays, we’re featuring a series we’re calling the Do It Yourself Bailout. We’re looking at a range of specific action plans that Beth has worked out with us. Last week we kicked off the series with a discussion about why it’s so scary to talk about money, whether it’s with your family, friends and even yourself.

Our partners at The New York Times are also featuring a similar discussion, and we’ve asked Ron Lieber, who writes the Your Money column and oversees the Bucks Blog at the Times, says sometimes it’s about taking a day to set up a good plan. Kobliner says it’s all about checking three items off your financial to do list, just to get yourself going.