When the economy is on the up swing consumer confidence sours to unbelievable heights. We tend to buy more and worry less about job security. Debt is considered more of an annoyance than an actual concern. When the economy takes a dive suddenly our lives are thrown into an up roar. The things we take for granted are suddenly in question.

The reality is, many of us ordinary folks have bills and more often than not have to come up with some clever ways to make it to the next pay check. This is called living on the edge and while you may manage it for many months it is not a healthy way to live.

For starters things go wrong: your car breaks down, the water heater dies and for some stupid reason gas bills sky rocket. What do you do? Do you max out yet another credit card or find someone to loan you the money for a pile of interest? Well here's the thing, it's probably a good idea to have a little safety net before any one of these things actually become a problem. I have some tips that may just help out some.

If you feel the financial pinch the first thing you must do is take a look at your finances per month. I know this may sound kind of dumb but most people never actually think about it. A bill comes in and money is spent. But here's the catch, you may in fact be spending more than you are making, if you are not keeping close tabs. So it is important to do a little math. It is simple; all you have to do is subtract all your bills including groceries from your net earnings. Then you will have some idea where you stand.

Assessing what are Necessities and Extras

1. TV programming. We all love to have hundreds of channels to choose from, but do we really need them all? Why not go basic? It's much less than the premium price and you save yourself a chunk of cash over time.

2. The phone. How many times have you been hounded to upgrade and finally caved in?
Call display, call waiting, phone messaging service you name it, it costs. Each one of those services adds up and strangely enough many people feel like they can't live with out them. Go basic and get an answering machine. Answering machines may be considered old technology but if a person really wants to speak to you he/she will leave a message regardless. If you have a cell phone, check out how much you are spending on those extras; you know the ring tones, text messaging and internet access. You may be surprised and want
to curb some of your activities.

3. Coffee break. The average

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