How I did it: Husband and I sat down and drew up a family budget and for a few months we tracked our expenses against it, tweaking it where it needed tweaking and adjusting our spending where it needed adjusting.

In the end, the key is discipline and clear financial goals as those are the only things that will make you stick to your budget.

Lessons & tips: Sit down as a family and determine all your sources of income & expenses.

Evaluate your expenses to determine where you can trim on things and prioritise your spending allocations.

Set clear financial goals of what you as a family want to achieve.

Evaluate what actually happened against the budget you set and come up with a plan of action to remedy any discrepancies or how to avoid them in future.

You will also need to come up with a plan on how to manage unexpected expenses - because they will always be there!

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Mar 11, 2010, 10:44PM PST | 0 comments | 3 cheers