The First Step To Saving

The holidays are passing and the New Year is approaching quickly. After dropping a fortune on gift giving and feast making, as many of us did, it's time to turn our minds to more frugal financial decisions and managing our debt.

Do you have a New Years resolution involving money? Many of us do. If I had to guess I'd say "saving more money" or "getting out of debt" is right up there with "weight loss" on the "New Years Resolution Scale."

For most of us, it really isn't that hard to save money, and saving money is the first step to getting out of debt. It all begins with getting into the right frame of mind. The problem with resolutions, is that we are often setting ourselves up for failure. To aviod that, the first thing you need to do is make a reasonable budget.

Start by knowing, and writing down, how much you start the week off with. Let's say you make $800 a week, then automatically deduct any fees that come out, like health insurance.

Next make a detailed list of all of your expenses. Divide this list into seperate catagories. For example, put your needs like electricity, water, food, ect in one group and wants like diners out, and other treats in another group.

That's a big task! Figure out how much you're spending each week or month on needs as well as wants. After you do that, you'll know exactly where all of your money is going- and you really may be suprised to see how much is spent on what!

Keeping track of your money is the very first step to saving.