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Getting a handle on your money can seem like fighting a monster with a hundred heads. While it may be true you have many financial responsibilities, numerous accounts to manage, and an ever-increasing number of options available to you, your journey toward financial sanity is achievable with just a few simple rules.

Track What Comes In and What Goes Out.

The most fundamental step to financial security is keeping track of the money that is flowing into and out of your household. This is NOT a budget. A budget involves laboriously dividing all your expenses into categories, setting spending limits within each category, then trying (and failing) to stay within those limits. I am talking about simply monitoring the actual money that comes in and the actual money that goes out.

Make a spreadsheet.

When you get paid, type into the spreadsheet, "Paycheck, 01/07/2009," or whatever applies. Beside this, type the amount you were paid. Congratulations! You are tracking your income. If you buy a bag of pretzels, type "pretzels, 4/12/09" in another column, and then put the price of the pretzels next to that. Boom - you're tracking your spending! Need something even easier? Just make a long list. Every time you either get paid or pay for something, make a note of it in a little notebook. At the end of the month, total up what you were paid on the one hand and what you paid out on the other. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE EVERYTHING YOU CHARGED ON A CREDIT CARD!

Spend Less Than You Earn.

Once you are keeping track of your income and expenses, compare the two numbers. Hopefully, the income number is larger. To build financial security, you must spend less than you earn. This statement seems obvious, and yet so many people find this cornerstone of money management easier said than done. You have a lot of priorities competing for your limited income. You don't necessarily want a lavish lifestyle; you just expect the same standard of living as your parents and grandparents. Well, the dirty secret many Americans don't want to face is that many, many people today are going to have to adjust their expectations downward.

You may not be able to have quite the same standard of living as your parents. It is harder for people today to provide the same things to their kids that their parents gave them, and not just because of "The Recession." Adjusted for inflation, real wages have been declining for a long time. You have to make your financial decisions according to the numbers that are actually

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