Make a commitment

Underscore to family members how serious you are about adhering to the new financial guidelines. Don’t merely print a  spreadsheet of the family’s income and expenses and then wordlessly post it to the refrigerator under the kids’ soccer schedule.

List your expenses

Make a realistic list of your expected monthly expenses based upon actual expenses a year ago. Be sure to include new expenses, such as car payments that didn’t exist a year earlier. And don’t forget impulse purchases, such as stopping at a convenience store for a snack and soda, said Tanisha Warner of  Consumer Credit Counseling Services in Roanoke. Those can add up big over the course of a month.

List your income

Make a list of your net monthly income. Compare your income and expenses. Living on a budget means keeping expenses within your income.

Classify your expenses

Divide expenses into different categories: the absolutely necessary; the absolutely unnecessary; and those that can be trimmed. Reduce spending in the latter two.

Plan ahead

Plan your spending one month ahead. After you get the hang of it, plan several months ahead. Ideally, you’ll gradually be able to increase  the gap between income and expenses so you’ll have more income left over each month.

Pat yourself on the back

Reward thriftiness. Rather than saving every bit of your trimmed budget, devote a portion to new spending. For example: $5 less in electric bills for six months is $30, enough to cover several Saturday afternoon movie matinee tickets. This can help encourage you to save more in the future.

Review and re-evaluate

Go back to Step 1 and review every item and the monthly totals of your income and expenses. Remember that a budget is a projection based on past history and honest  expectations. Your budget should show a surplus of income, and one goal should be increasing that abundance.