@SGM: How long did it take you to come up with your budget spreadsheet? How often do you look at it / update it / etc.?

Using a credit card, particularly if you use MS-Money or Quicken to categorize every purchase, is the way to go. You can get reports, charts, daily warnings, about your spending. You can even track cash spending with those programs, if you keep a record. (Collecting receipts even for the ice cream cone can be helpful.)

Better to tell your money where to go than it to tell you where it went.

We budget car maintenance out at $25 per month. Usually none of it is spent… every 3-6 months we do an oil change (when mileage necessitates), but the rest builds up for tires, emergencies, etc.

@Steve: You’re right about finding support with other people. I always recommend people buy a used car from anywhere from 2-4 years old. If maintained well, and if it is a quality brand, it should hold up for another 8-10 years.

@Russell: That’s why I use my credit card — to help track all of our expenses (while earning rewards).

That was a surprising exercise, and it’s a good first step towards understanding spending. I’m not very disciplined about budget, although I do budget the major expenses like mortgage, monthly household bills, investments, insurance, and maintenance for my car and motorcycles.

I do like to buy things like motorcycles, an HDTV, electronics. Fortunately I’m a shopper, I will spend months looking and comparing before I make a major purchase.

Our wake-up call from the Bank also coincided with the car needing 17,000Dkr worth of repairs, so it’s been/is tough at the moment. But the fact that I have everything in our plans and oversight, is comforting. There shouldn’t be more surprises, however I can see what I need to do at any particular point, should the unforseen happen. My (Mac ‘Numbers’ spreadsheet) plan has a section for ‘Unforseen Expenses’, after all!

I would recommend a couple of things: Look at your finances, as the article says. Then – if they’re bad – talk to someone. Talk to many people, gather ideas. Do a projection of how things are likely to go over at least the next year and talk to the bank. Get advice, get help. The worst feeling is that you’re all alone. Second (especially over here) buying a new (small) car can be better than a used one. Once we factor in how much our 10 year old used Fiat has cost the last year, and is likely to cost next year, in repair bills, petrol and the like, even with the cost of the loan to buy a new (KIA Picanto in our case) car, we save money! We save on kilometres per litre, on repair bills (none!) and (huge savings) on car tax. I have a three loan rule, so once we have a couple of my wife’s student loans paid off, we’re buying.

Thanks for throwing this back at us here.