Coming Soon: Deflation then Inflation

Since the financial crisis seems to have overtaken the peak oil crisis for the time being, we can expect deflation first. Gas and food will moderate, but houses will continue to go down for quite some time, perhaps years. Of course, the whole thing is getting out of the control of the geniuses running the show, so the collapse could be sudden, severe, and really astonishing.

Then, they will start printing money like mad and we will have horrendous inflation.

So, you have a couple of years to fix your house, add insulation, get a solar water heater, apply an elastomeric roof (see below), do the painting, etc., before the inflation comes. There is no sense sitting on cash when that happens. Spend cash first and foremost on getting future expenses down.