Well, the first way to start is to simply track your spending. You will want to track your spending for a month straight, that way you get a fuller picture of how your money is spent and where it goes each month. You don't need to capture every penny, but get most of it. Here's a tip that will make it easy: Use your debit card instead of cash whenever possible. In fact, if you do spend cash, get a receipt and just tuck it into a specified envelope. If you use your debit card, you do not have to do much, because the bank will do the tracking for you.

So, at the end of the month, take your debit card statement, and the receipts you saved from everything else. Review it. Put things in categories. Make them up any way you want, but try to do it the way you would set up a budget, so things like "Unavoidable bills", "gas", "grocery", "entertainment", etc.

Once you do this, you will be able to see where your money is really going. And, more importantly you will be able to see what areas could be cut back without significantly changing your lifestyle. For example, you may not change your rent payment, but you could conserve a little electricity, or eat at home more often.

If you want something more sophisticated for tracking spending, but that also takes a little more computer skill, use a program like Quicken. It works beautifully for this, but you can get the essential information almost as easily with a pen, paper, and a calculator. You set up categories, download your spending from your bank, and sort it. The totals are automatically sorted for you.

Ok, once you have tracked your spending you need to ask yourself one key questions: Does your spending exceed your income?

If you answer yes to this question, it is time to look more closely at your spending. Is it because of great debt? Or, are you just being a little sloppy and buying too many meals out or too much coffee in the morning? Or are you trying to live beyond your means? You want to look carefully at each dollar, and ask yourself if there is waste -- like bank fees -- that can be cut easily with a little attention? Knowing about these little things can help you spend smarter and have more money to spend, or at least get out of debt faster.

When you track your spending you can see better how much those little things add up. So, now with those items in mind, create a new budget. The key to creating a budget that you can stick to is to be realistic. You know where you usually spend your money, so creating a budget that parallels that with just a few cut backs should not be too hard to stick to. This is why working backwards from your actual, documented spending is so important.