Buckle down and get ready to do some number crunching. Take a look at what you spend money on every month and isolate your most important expenses, which should include shelter, food, utilities, and transportation. Okay, okay, factor in a little entertainment, since you will probably go stir crazy without it. Determine how much you spend on these things every month at a bare minimum and this is your starting budget. What? You have no money left over? You do not have enough to pay all of those bills? Time to downsize.

Lower your utilities by becoming conscious of the energy that you use every day. Keep the lights off when you are not using them and this also applies to the television. If you are the only person in the house and you are going to take a bath, turn the TV off. You can also cut down your use of the air conditioner and heating. Most people can get by with putting on more clothes during the winter, so this is where you can save the most money. If you can take the heat during the summer, though, you can save a lot here, too.

Spending a lot of money on food? Cut out the fast food and learn to take advantage of coupons and sales at the grocery store. Learn to cook, as well. You can save a lot of money by learning to cook full meals and dividing them into portions that you can freeze. Something else you can do is get rid of the visits to places like Starbucks or at least minimize them.

Using credit and debit cards can also cost you more money than you intend. Debit cards these days will typically still be accepted, even if you do not have enough funds in your checking account to cover the transaction. You will be charged an overdraft fee for this convenience. This works much the same way that credit cards to, since credit cards may also still be accepted, even though you have gone over your credit limit. So, when using these cards, try to make sure you are within your limits at all times. When in doubt, use cash.