Sometimes people can get pretty tight when it comes to living expenses. We save a penny here and a penny there, and those pennies add up a bit. But it's the dollars that up more quickly. Whenever you look at cutting back expenses you should start looking at the biggest expenses first to see if they can be cut. Don't be penny wise and dollar foolish.

* Make sure you have a budget written down somewhere. If you don't know how the cash is flowing in and how it is flowing out, you won't know how to cut your expenses. You should know exactly how much income you generate after taxes in a given period of time and exactly how much you are spending.

* Make your budget simple so you can follow it. Break it into the following categories starting with the biggest monthly expenses first. Once you attempt to cut the larger expenses first, focus on whatever is left to cut. The average person's or family's largest monthly expenses can be broken into these five categories.

1. Mortgage or Rent
2. Auto payments
3. Insurance payments
4. Utilities
5. Gas, food, and entertainment (the daily expenses)
6. Clothing and gifts

-Your mortgage or rent is usually your biggest expense. If you are cutting back expenses try not to live beyond your means when choosing a place to live. Make sure you don't overextend yourself.

-Buy a car, don't lease it. Although leasing a car gives you the opportunity to drive something different every few years, owning a car is more cost efficient. You can pay it off and keep it....drive it into the ground if you choose.

-Shop around for insurance and utilities. You can sometimes change phone plans, and cable and internet services. By focusing on cutting these expenses you can pay up to 1/3 less every month on these three utilities.

-Turning your heat down in the winter is nothing new. However, if you can master turning it down 3-4 degrees when you're home during waking hours and down under 65 degrees when you sleep, and do it all winter on a consistent basis, you will save a lot of money. Heat escapes through poor insulation and leaky windows. Make sure you button up the windows with plastic or wide hanging drapes to keep the heat in.

Categories 5 and 6, gas, food, entertainment, clothing, and gifts are those personal expenses. These are more frequent expenses, some of which are purchased on a daily basis. Once you have purchased a home and a car, you will find that these smaller, more frequent expenses are the ones that can be

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