I gave my inbox an end-of-the-year cleanup and pulled these questions that I think will apply to many people these days:

Samantha from Cary, N.C., asks: I am a small business owner. We are more than struggling. People are afraid to spend money. How do you know when to say whenfi If you stick it out to the very end, how do you pay a bankruptcy lawyerfi I learned all I could about being a boutique owner but never learned a thing about how to gracefully call it quits.

Samantha, I did what I would recommend you do when looking for free business advice -- turn to the folks at SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives (www.score.org). They offer a huge variety of expertise for free. Here's what they had to say:

• First, determine if there is a bare-bones, low-cost strategy to keep the business alive until the economy improves. This would involve negotiating lower costs and slower or reduced payments to suppliers, landlords, staff or even lenders. It could even involve special sales of merchandise or assets to stay alive.

• Second, if there is no bare-bones survival strategy worth undertaking, then the task is to wind down and liquidate the business. This would involve selling off remaining merchandise and assets, negotiating a work out where you've personally guaranteed loans or leases or other liabilities, and notifying creditors that the business is closing and that there is no cash to pay them. At this point, a bankruptcy attorney can help, but will cost good money. Your accountant might be able to assist here without the need for an attorney.

• A third option would be to sell the business to another retailer at a distressed price, but for a greater value in comparison to the funds you'd receive from the liquidation option.

Scott from Atlanta, Ga., writes: My bank processes the largest transactions on my checking account/debit card first rather than when the transaction happens, which causes overdrafts. Is there a bank that processes transactions as they occurfi

Scott, this is a great question -- and a frustration for many people as it is not only completely legal but common practice. Our source at the National Association of Consumer Advocates says they don't know of a bank that doesn't operate this way, and many credit unions do this as well. Consumers pay $17.5 billion a year in overdraft fees according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

What to do: Opt out of overdraft protection, which is automatically added to most accounts and basically issues you an expensive loan if you use your debit card without enough money in your account. Even if you only buy a $2 hamburger, you'll pay up to $35 in fees because the bank will allow you to purchase the food and then charge you for covering it. So you can opt out and your debit card will be declined, saving you the money. You also need to keep track of how much money you have. Don't use your debit card or write a check if you don't have the money to cover it.

Jessica in Brooklyn, N.Y., writes: When my husband started his new sales job four years ago, we thought we did a smart thing and refinanced our home loan to a 15-year loan. We also have a couple of car payments and some medical and credit card bills. With the economy the way it is, his commissions have been going down, and that house payment is still so big. Do you think it would be a smart idea to refinance the first and second into a new 30-year fixedfi

Yes, Jessica, you are absolutely thinking correctly -- just as you were when you aimed to get out of debt earlier with that 15-year fixed-rate loan. Mortgage rates, thanks to the Fed's lowering of interest rates by 3/4 of a point, plus the news that the Treasury will buy mortgages, will very likely continue to fall, but they may already be at a level attractive enough to do this deal. (A 30-year fixed rate mortgage is at 5.28 percent on average, according to mortgage rate publisher HSH.com.) Depending on the amount of equity you have in this home, you may be able to roll the credit card bills or car loan debt into a refi as well. And it may be a very smart thing to do, because you'll reduce your borrowing costs tremendously. BUT, I want you to do it only if you know yourself well enough to believe, honestly, that you will not rack those credit card bills right back up. Research shows us that within a few years, about one-third of people who do cash-out refis like this and use the money to pay off credit cards accrue just as much credit-card debt as they had before. Add that to the fact that they've increased their mortgage debt, and it spells trouble. But if you can keep your fingers off the plastic, it's a smart financial move.

Jaclyn in Cleveland, Ohio, asks: I'm a single woman who graduated from college in 2000 with approximately $30,000 in student loans. In the past I have not managed my money well, and now I'm faced with student loans of $58,000 because I have chosen to defer and forbear the loans. I owe almost as much interest as I do the original loan. Over the years, my payment has gone from approximately $300 to $795 a month. What can I do to reduce my student loan payments or eliminate some of the interestfi

Federal student loans have several repayment options that can reduce the amount you pay each month, but they will increase the amount you pay overall due to interest. Here are the options available that might work for you:

• Extended Repayment. To be eligible for this, you must have more than $30,000 in direct loan debt. You'll have 25 years to repay your loans in fixed payments.

• Graduated Repayment. Here, payments start out low and increase every two years. The length of the repayment period, though, is limited to 10 years. So this is a good option only if you're pretty sure your income is going to increase steadily over time.

• Income Contingent Repayment. Monthly payments are calculated on the basis of adjusted gross income, family size and total amount of the loans. The maximum repayment period is 25 years. If you haven't fully repaid them in 25 years (time spent in deferment or forbearance doesn't count), the unpaid portion will be discharged but you may have to pay taxes on the forgiven amount.

Jim in Austin, Texas, asks: I'm 43 years old and was laid off from my job as a technology manager in November. Despite serious job hunting, I can see our money running out in the near future. To protect my home and family, I have decided to tap into a 401(k) I have from a previous employer. I'm planning to roll the entire amount, around $70,000 at the moment, into an IRA so I can withdraw what I need with more flexibility. Are there any "gotchas" I need to watch out forfi

As you obviously know, pulling money out of a retirement account is a last resort -- but it sounds as if you've been thoughtful and have exhausted your other options. So here's what I want you to do. Ask your old company to write a check for the balance of the 401(k) account and make it out to the new IRA account (you can ask the bank or brokerage where you open the IRA for specific details on how to make out the check). Do it this way because if the check is made out to you, 20 percent in taxes will be taken out immediately -- and you want to avoid that. The company will either send the check directly to the bank that holds your IRA, or they'll send it to you and you'll need to deposit it yourself. If you receive it yourself, you'll need to be sure you deposit it into the new IRA within 60 days to avoid a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty and current income taxes.

• With reporting by Arielle McGowen.

• Jean Chatzky is an editor-at-large at Money Magazine and serves as AOL's official Money Coach. She is the personal finance editor for NBC's "Today Show" and is also a columnist for Life Magazine. She is the author of four books, including 2004's "Pay it Down! From Debt to Wealth on $10 a Day" (Portfolio). To find out more, visit her Web site, www.jeanchatzky.com.