The easy way to save money when you are married with children, because a penny saved is a penny earned.

People lets be honest. It is hard to save money. There a lot of temptations out there that keep us poor. Whether it be nicer cars, designer label clothes, my wife's handbags, vacations, et. al., it is tough to remain frugal in our spend thrift society. Even if you find yourself in a situation where the items listed above are way out of reach, and you struggle at times to keep you and yours in good living conditions, acceptable schools and decent clothing it is still challenging to save money.

Saving money is a lot like weight loss. It is a simple equation in weight loss, calories in through food and drink minus calories burned during exercise or daily activities equals weight gain or loss. Money is the same. Money in (income) minus money out (expenses) equals whether you are eating steak or spam. Even if you do not have a lot of money coming in the door, you can save money.

Set up a budget. Before doing so monitor your expenditures for two months. I am talking about tracking every red cent of money that goes out of your bank account, right down to the pack of gum you by at the gas station. You will end up with a giant list of expenditures. I will now give you tips on categorizing your expenditures.

The first category is non-discretionary spending. These are fixed amount expenditures such as rent, electric, phone, cable, et. al. The second category is discretionary spending. This is the fun stuff like dining out, clothes, groceries (ok not so fun), vacation fund, entertainment, et. al. Since non-discretionary spending is fixed, you do not have much room here. You could adjust by cancelling the HBO or turning the thermostat to minimize heating and cooling expenses. Break all discretionary spending into as many categories as you feel are needed to accurately and logically track your spending. Look at http://www.quicken.com/ for a quick budget planner.

This should get you ready to really go to work on your budget. My next blog will focus on balancing your personal budget and getting real about spending.