I was surprised but budgeting worked for us - a few tips:

Because of my work I never thought that we had the ability to live on a budget. I sell real estate so my income fluctuates, money that I have to spend fluctuates...but with a little bit of effort we sat down and figured up a minimum of what we could expect to bring in and wrote down when all of our bills were due...even the little ones that come in as automatic drafts.

Then we figured out how much we would need for our weekly expenses. One thing we found that was taking a HUGE portion of our money was eating out! Wow, amazing how much we were spending! We knew that we had to put and end to this lazy and fattening behavior. I'm really bad about impulse buying so now before I go to the grocery store I make a meal list for the week -- sounds hard but once you make it a habit you'll find it's no big deal. I then figure out what I will need to make these items and we go to the grocery store and only buy the items we put on the list. We're in and out in no time and we stayed within our budget!! When I'm checking out I get two gas cards - one for myself and one for my husband. We also get cash back for our weekly "allowance"... You're probably thinking -- no way..but try it, it works like a charm. Before I would think nothing of dropping $300 on a purse - now I have to save for it and when it gets down to it - I usually don't find that it's worth it. Not putting money on your debit card and working only with cash will make you think before you spend. It also makes tracking expenses easier. In only 2 months of following a budget we have gone from being worried about having overdrafts to having a pretty sizeable overage!!

It takes a little effort (really, not alot) but the payoff is huge - we feel so proud of ourselves and we don't live each day worried about paying the bills.

Happy saving!!

Lainie Ramsey