A realistic budget is your best weapon against overspending.

If you want to keep your spending under control, it’s essential that you make a budget. A budget allows you to get a handle on the flow of your money — how much you make and how much you spend. With that information in hand, you can make intelligent choices about what to buy with your hard-earned cash.

Make a List of Your Expenses

The first step in making a realistic budget is figuring out where your money goes. To keep track, make an expense record.

Limitations of computer programs. Unfortunately, most computer programs that track expenses only analyze your check or credit card payments — they don’t record your cash outlays.

Make your own expense record. Rather than relying on a computer program, keep track of your expenses in a low-tech but comprehensive way: with some paper and a pen. Here’s how:

1. Use one sheet of paper per week to record your expenses for two months. By doing this, you’ll avoid creating a budget based on a week or a month of unusually high or low expenses.

2. Begin recording your expenses on the first day of a month.

3. Create seven columns on the page, one for each day of the week. Record the date at the top of each column.

4. Carry that sheet with you at all times.

5. Record every expense you pay by cash or cash equivalent — check, ATM or debit card, or automatic bank withdrawal. When you make a payment on a credit card bill, list the items paid for.

6. At the end of the week, put away the sheet and take out another. Go back to Step 3.

7. At the end of the two months, list seasonal, annual, semi-annual, or quarterly expenses you incur but did not pay during your two-month recording period. The most common are property taxes, car registration and maintenance, magazine subscriptions, tax preparation fees, insurance payments, and seasonal expenses such as summer camp fees or holiday gifts.

Total Your Income

Your expenditures account for only half of the picture. You also need to add up your monthly income.

On a blank sheet of paper, list the jobs for which you receive a salary or wages. Then, list all self-employment for which you receive income, including farm income and sales commissions. Finally, list other sources of income, such as:

• bonus pay

• dividends and interest

• alimony or child support

• pension or retirement income, and

• public assistance.

Record net income. Next to each source of income, list the net (after deductions) amount you receive each pay period. If you don’t receive the same amount each period, average the last 12.

Next to each net amount, enter the period covered by the payment — such as weekly, twice monthly (24 times a year), every other week (26 times a year), monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Determine monthly income. Finally, multiply the net amount by the number of pay periods to determine the monthly amount. For example, if you are paid twice a month, multiply the net amount by two. If you are paid every other week, multiply the amount by 26 (for the annual amount) and divide by 12.

When you are done, total up all the amounts. This is your total average monthly income.

Make Your Budget

After you keep track of your expenses and income for a few months, you’re ready to create a budget. Your goals in making a budget are to:

• control your impulses to overspend, and

• start saving money.

To create your budget, follow these steps:

1. Determine the categories into which your expenses fall (see the chart below for suggested categories.) List your categories of expenses down the left side of a piece of paper (or Excel spreadsheet). Use as many sheets as you need to list all categories. These are your budget sheets.

2. On the sheets containing your list of categories, make 13 columns. Label the first one “projected” and the remaining 12 with the months of the year. Unless today is the first of the month, start with next month.

3. Using your total actual expenses for the two months you tracked and the other expenses you added, project your monthly expenses for the categories you’ve listed. (Make a note of when smaller expenses, such as magazine subscriptions, are due so you can adjust your budget for that month. These temporary adjustments make more sense than trying to save $1.23 each month to cover an annual magazine subscription.

4. Enter your projected monthly expenses into the “projected” column of your budget sheets.

5. Add up all projected monthly expenses and enter the total into a “Total Expenses” category at the bottom of the projected column.

6. Enter your projected monthly income below your total projected expenses.

7. Figure out the difference.

Decreasing Expenses to Meet a Budget

If your expenses exceed your income, you will have to cut expenses or increase your income. If finding more income is not realistic, focus on decreasing your expenses. The trick is doing this without depriving yourself of items or services you truly need.

Reduce the amount you spend in each category. Review your expenses and look for categories you can comfortably reduce slightly. For example, let’s say you need to cut $175 from your budget. You had planned on spending $100 a month on meals at restaurants, but are willing to decrease that to $50, thereby saving $50.

Preserve things you cannot live without. Make a list of things you feel you can’t live without, and whittle down your other expenses to accommodate them. For example, you may decide to give up most of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions because you know you’d go nuts if you couldn’t go to the movies once a week. If you make room for at least some of the things you love most, you’re much more likely to succeed at your plan.

Staying on Track

Don’t think of your budget as etched in stone. If you do, and you spend more on an item than you’ve budgeted, you’ll get frustrated and be more likely to scrap the budget altogether.

Review your budget and make adjustments. Check your figures periodically. If you never have enough money to make ends meet, it’s time to adjust some more. Or, if you constantly overspend in one area, change the projected amount for that category and trim the money from another category.

Consider larger financial changes. If you continually come up short, you may need to consider some larger changes. For example, you might sell your newer car for an older used car to free yourself from car payments. As you make adjustments to your budget, give careful thought to your priorities. Think about what you value, and be honest with yourself.

Be willing to sacrifice. You may have to sacrifice some things that feel important to you. But don’t expect to stick to your budget if you take away all but the essentials. Be realistic.

1. Budgets are a necessary evil.

They’re the only practical way to get a grip on your spending – and to make sure your money is being used the way you want it to be used.

2. Creating a budget generally requires three steps.

 - Identify how you’re spending money now.

 - Evaluate your current spending and set goals that take into account your long-

   term financial objectives.

 - Track your spending to make sure it stays within those guidelines.

3. Use software to save grief.

If you use a personal-finance program such as Quicken or Microsoft Money, the built-in budget-making tools can create your budget for you.

4. Don’t drive yourself nuts.

One drawback of monitoring your spending by computer is that it encourages overzealous attention to detail. Once you determine which categories of          spending can and should be cut (or expanded), concentrate on those categories and worry less about other aspects of your spending.

5. Watch out for cash leakage.

If withdrawals from the ATM machine evaporate from your pocket without apparent explanation, it’s time to keep better records. In general, if you find yourself returning to the ATM more than once a week or so, you need to examine where that cash is going.

6. Spending beyond your limits is dangerous.

But if you do, you’ve got plenty of company. Government figures show that many households with total income of $50,000 or less are spending more than they bring in. This doesn’t make you an automatic candidate for bankruptcy – but it’s definitely a sign you need to make some serious spending cuts.

7. Beware of luxuries dressed up as necessities.

If your income doesn’t cover your costs, then some of your spending is probably for luxuries – even if you’ve been considering them to be filling a real need.

8. Tithe yourself.

Aim to spend no more than 90% of your income. That way, you’ll have the other 10% left to save for your big-picture items.

9. Don’t count on windfalls.

When projecting the amount of money you can live on, don’t include dollars that you can’t be sure you’ll receive, such as year-end bonuses, tax refunds or investment gains.

10. Beware of spending creep.

As your annual income climbs from raises, promotions and smart investing, don’t start spending for luxuries until you’re sure that you’re staying ahead of inflation. It’s better to use those income increases as an excuse to save more.

1. Narrow your objectives.

You probably won’t be able to achieve every financial goal you’ve ever dreamed of. So identify your goals clearly and why they matter to you, and decide which are most important. By concentrating your efforts, you have a better chance of achieving what matters most.

2. Focus first on the goals that matter.

To accomplish primary goals, you will often need to put desirable but less important ones on the back burner.

3. Be prepared for conflicts.

Even worthy goals often conflict with one another. When faced with such a conflict, you should ask yourself questions like: Will one of the conflicting goals benefit more people than the other? Which goal will cause the greater harm if it is deferred?

4. Put time on your side.

The most important ally you have in reaching your goals is time. Money stashed in interest-earning savings accounts or invested in stocks and bonds grows and compounds. The more time you have, the more chance you have of success. Your age is a big factor – younger people (who have more time to build their nest egg) can invest differently than older ones. Generally, younger people can take greater risks than older people, given their longer investment horizon.

5. Choose carefully.

In drawing up your list of goals, you should look for things that will help you feel financially secure, happy or fulfilled. Some of the items that wind up on such lists include building an emergency fund, getting out of debt and paying kids’ tuitions. Once you have your list together, you need to rank the items in order of importance (if you have trouble doing so, use the CNNMoney.com Prioritizer for help).

6. Include family members.

If you have a spouse or significant other, make sure that person is part of the goal-setting process. Children, too, should have some say in goals that affect them.

7. Start now.

The longer you wait to identify and begin working toward your goals, the more difficulty you’ll have reaching them. And the longer you wait, the longer you postpone the advantage of compounding your money.

8. Sweat the big stuff.

Once you have prioritized your list of goals, keep your spending on course. Whenever you make a large payment for anything, ask yourself: “Is this taking me nearer to my primary goals – or leading me further away from them?” If a big expense doesn’t get you closer to your goals, try to defer or reduce it. If taking a grand cruise steals money from your kids’ college fund, maybe you should settle for a weekend getaway.

9. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Although this lesson encourages you to focus on big-ticket, long-range plans, most of life is lived in the here-and-now and most of what you spend will continue to be for daily expenses – including many that are simply for fun. That’s OK – so long as your long-range needs are taken into consideration.

10. Be prepared for change.

Your needs and desires will change as you age, so you should probably reexamine your priorities at least every five years.

1. Americans are loaded with credit-card debt.

The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $10,700 in credit-card debt, according to CardWeb.com, and the average interest rate runs in the mid- to high teens at any given time.

2. Some debt is good.

Borrowing for a home or college usually makes good sense. Just make sure you don’t borrow more than you can afford to pay back, and shop around for the best rates.

3. Some debt is bad.

Don’t use a credit card to pay for things you consume quickly, such as meals and vacations, if you can’t afford to pay off your monthly bill in full in a month or two. There’s no faster way to fall into debt. Instead, put aside some cash each month for these items so you can pay the bill in full. If there’s something you really want, but it’s expensive, save for it over a period of weeks or months before charging it so that you can pay the balance when it’s due and avoid interest charges.

4. Get a handle on your spending.

Most people spend thousands of dollars without much thought to what they’re buying. Write down everything you spend for a month, cut back on things you don’t need, and start saving the money left over or use it to reduce your debt more quickly.

5. Pay off your highest-rate debts first.

The key to getting out of debt efficiently is first to pay down the balances of loans or credit cards that charge the most interest while paying at least the minimum due on all your other debt. Once the high-interest debt is paid down, tackle the next highest, and so on.

6. Don’t fall into the minimum trap.

If you just pay the minimum due on credit-card bills, you’ll barely cover the interest you owe, to say nothing of the principal. It will take you years to pay off your balance, and potentially you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars more than the original amount you charged.

7. Watch where you borrow.

It may be convenient to borrow against your home or your 401(k) to pay off debt, but it can be dangerous. You could lose your home or fall short of your investing goals at retirement.

8. Expect the unexpected.

Build a cash cushion worth three months to six months of living expenses in case of an emergency. If you don’t have an emergency fund, a broken furnace or damaged car can seriously upset your finances.

9. Don’t be so quick to pay down your mortgage.

Don’t pour all your cash into paying off a mortgage if you have other debt. Mortgages tend to have lower interest rates than other debt, and you may deduct the interest you pay on the first $1 million of a mortgage loan. (If your mortgage has a high rate and you want to lower your monthly payments, consider refinancing.)

10. Get help as soon as you need it.

If you have more debt than you can manage, get help before your debt breaks your back. There are reputable debt counseling agencies that may be able to consolidate your debt and assist you in better managing your finances. But there are

1. When it comes to teaching kids about money, the sooner the better.

Up until they start earning a living, and sometimes well beyond that, kids are apt to spend money like it grows on trees. This lesson will help you put your children on the road to handling money responsibly.

Long before most children can add or subtract, they become aware of the concept of money. Any 4-year-old knows where their parents get money – the ATM, of course. Understanding that parents must work for their money requires a more mature mind, and even then, the learning process has its wrinkles. For example, once he came to understand that his father worked for a living, a 5-year-old asked, “How was work today?” “Fine,” the father replied. The child then asked, “Did you get the money?”

2. Once they learn how money works, children often display an instinctive conservatism.

Instant gratification aside, once they learn they can buy things they want with money – e.g., candy, toys – many children will begin hoarding every nickel they can get their hands on. How this urge is channeled can determine what kind of financial manager your child will be as an adult.

3. Seeds planted early bear fruit later.

It’s important to work on your child’s financial awareness early on, for once they’re teenagers, they are less likely to heed your sage advice. Besides, they’re busy doing other things – like spending money.

4. An allowance can be an effective teaching tool.

When your kids are young, giving them small amounts of money helps them prepare for the day when the numbers will get bigger.

5. Teenagers and college-age kids have bigger responsibilities.

Checking accounts, credit cards and debt are as elemental to the college experience as books and keg parties. Teaching high-schoolers about banking and credit will make them more savvy when they leave the nest.

6. Even investing should be learned early.

High schoolers can and should be taught about the market – using real money.

1. Don’t buy if you can’t stay put.

If you can’t commit to remaining in one place for at least a few years, then owning is probably not for you, at least not yet. With the transaction costs of buying and selling a home, you may end up losing money if you sell any sooner – even in a rising market. When prices are falling, it’s an even worse proposition.

2. Start by shoring up your credit.

Since you most likely will need to get a mortgage to buy a house, you must make sure your credit history is as clean as possible. A few months before you start house hunting, get copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you discover.

3. Aim for a home you can really afford.

The rule of thumb is that you can buy housing that runs about two-and-one-half times your annual salary. But you’ll do better to use one of many calculators available online to get a better handle on how your income, debts, and expenses affect what you can afford.

4. If you can’t put down the usual 20 percent, you may still qualify for a loan.

There are a variety of public and private lenders who, if you qualify, offer low-interest mortgages that require a down payment as small as 3 percent of the purchase price.

5. Buy in a district with good schools.

In most areas, this advice applies even if you don’t have school-age children. Reason: When it comes time to sell, you’ll learn that strong school districts are a top priority for many home buyers, thus helping to boost property values.

6. Get professional help.

Even though the Internet gives buyers unprecedented access to home listings, most new buyers (and many more experienced ones) are better off using a professional agent. Look for an exclusive buyer agent, if possible, who will have your interests at heart and can help you with strategies during the bidding process.

7. Choose carefully between points and rate.

When picking a mortgage, you usually have the option of paying additional points — a portion of the interest that you pay at closing — in exchange for a lower interest rate. If you stay in the house for a long time — say three to five years or more — it’s usually a better deal to take the points. The lower interest rate will save you more in the long run.

8. Before house hunting, get pre-approved.

Getting pre-approved will you save yourself the grief of looking at houses you can’t afford and put you in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house. Not to be confused with pre-qualification, which is based on a cursory review of your finances, pre-approval from a lender is based on your actual income, debt and credit history.

9. Do your homework before bidding.

Your opening bid should be based on the sales trend of similar homes in the neighborhood. So before making it, consider sales of similar homes in the last three months. If homes have recently sold at 5 percent less than the asking price, you should make a bid that’s about eight to 10 percent lower than what the seller is asking.

10. Hire a home inspector.

Sure, your lender will require a home appraisal anyway. But that’s just the bank’s way of determining whether the house is worth the price you’ve agreed to pay. Separately, you should hire your own home inspector, preferably an engineer with experience in doing home surveys in the area where you are buying. His or her job will be to

1. Saving for your own retirement is more important than saving for college.

Your children will have more sources of money for college than you will have for your golden years, so don’t sacrifice your retirement savings.

2. The sooner you start saving, the better.

Even modest savings can pack a punch if you give them enough time to grow. Investing just $100 a month for 18 years will yield $48,000, assuming an 8% average annual return.

3. Stocks are best for your college savings portfolio.

With tuition costs rising faster than inflation, a portfolio tilted toward stocks is the best way to build enough savings in the long term. As your child approaches college age, you can shelter your returns by switching more money into bonds and cash.

4. You don’t have to save the entire cost of four years of college.

Federal, state, and private grants and loans can bridge the gap between your savings and tuition bills, even if you think you make too much to qualify.

5. With mutual funds, investing for college is simple.

Investing in mutual funds puts a professional in charge of your savings so that you don’t have to watch the markets daily.

6. 529 savings plans are a good way to save for college and they offer great tax breaks.

Qualified withdrawals are now free of federal tax and most plans let you save in excess of $200,000 per beneficiary. Plus, there are no income limitations or age restrictions, which means you can start a 529 no matter how much you make or how old your beneficiary is.

7. Tax breaks are almost as good as grants.

You may be able to take two federal tax credits — the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit — in the years you pay tuition.

8. The approval process for college loans is more lenient than for other loans.

Late payments on your credit record aren’t automatic grounds for refusal of a college loan.

9. Lenders can be flexible when it’s time to repay.

There are still ways to cut costs after you graduate and begin repaying your student loans. For instance, there is often a one-quarter percentage point interest rate decrease if you set up automatic debit, in which monthly payments are automatically taken from your account.

10. Taxpayers with student loans get a tax break.

You may deduct the interest you pay up to $2,500 a year if your modified adjusted gross income is less than $70,000 if you’re single or less than $145,000 if you’re married filing jointly. The deduction can be taken for the life of the loan.

1. Save as much as you can as early as you can.

Though it’s never too late to start, the sooner you begin saving, the more time your money has to grow. Gains each year build on the prior year’s — that’s the power of compounding, and the best way to accumulate wealth.

2. Set realistic goals.

Project your retirement expenses based on your needs, not rules of thumb. Be honest about how you want to live in retirement and how much it will cost. Then calculate how much you must save to supplement Social Security and other sources of retirement income.

3. A 401(k) is one of the easiest and best ways to save for retirement.

Contributing money to a 401(k) gives you an immediate tax deduction, tax-deferred growth on your savings, and — usually — a matching contribution from your company.

4. An IRA also can give your savings a tax-advantaged boost.

Like a 401(k), IRAs offer huge tax breaks. There are two types: a traditional IRA offers tax-deferred growth, meaning you pay taxes on your investment gains only when you make withdrawals, and, if you qualify, your contributions may be deductible; a Roth IRA, by contrast, doesn’t allow for deductible contributions but offers tax-free growth, meaning you owe no tax when you make withdrawals.

5. Focus on your asset allocation more than on individual picks.

How you divide your portfolio between stocks and bonds will have a big impact on your long-term returns.

6. Stocks are best for long-term growth.

Stocks have the best chance of achieving high returns over long periods. A healthy dose will help ensure that your savings grows faster than inflation, increasing the purchasing power of your nest egg.

7. Don’t move too heavily into bonds, even in retirement.

Many retirees stash most of their portfolio in bonds for the income. Unfortunately, over 10 to 15 years, inflation easily can erode the purchasing power of bonds’ interest payments.

8. Making tax-efficient withdrawals can stretch the life of your nest egg.

Once you’re retired, your assets can last several more years if you draw on money from taxable accounts first and let tax-advantaged accounts compound for as long as possible.

9. Working part-time in retirement can help in more ways than one.

Working keeps you socially engaged and reduces the amount of your nest egg you must withdraw annually once you retire.

10. There are other creative ways to get more mileage out of retirement assets.

For instance, you might consider relocating to an area with lower living expenses, or transforming the equity in your home into income by taking out a reverse mortgage.