Well, we've done a pretty good job around here of controlling our expenses.  Whenever I get to talking to anyone about how we control our finances, they seem amazed that we have managed our costs downward as far as we have.  What drives it home is that Leeanne gets to stay home with our children, and we do it all on my wages, which aren't very much.

One of the best tools we have is a whiteboard in the kitchen that we use to track all of our expenses each month, as well as earned income, so there is never any question about where the money went.  It seems to me that early in my adulthood the biggest problem that I faced with money was adding up all my bills at the end of the month, adding up the paychecks, subtracting one from the other, and realizing that the difference was not the same as what I had left.  Sometimes by a longshot.  The whiteboard is convenient, it's easy, and it doesn't lie. 

We have a category for each major expense; rent, food, paper, electricity, water, phone, internet, gasoline, and a couple more.  Additionally, towards the bottom, we have an area to write down incidentals such as clothing, eating out, birthday presents, and such things that don't happen every month.

Lately, though, I've been thinking about taking it to the next level with some home budget software.  It seems like it might be high time for us to move into this century, and I've got to say that it would sure be a convenient way to track from month to month, or year to year.  Some of the programs that I've been looking at also claim to help you find ways to trim your expenses, though I'm not sure how they would manage that aside from some common sense tips about conservation and smart shopping.  Either way, it may be in our future, and I'll let you know if I find one I like.