The Basics

I guess even though they are generally common sense, it's always good to be reminded of the basics of budgeting.

1. know what you earn and what you spend
2. spend LESS than you earn

Pretty simple right?

It might take 5 minutes or it might take hours, but it's really important to know where you stand and where you want to go.
IN:       Write down any money coming in: wages, allowances, gifts EVERYTHING
OUT:   Write down what you must spend every week/fortnight: rent/mortgage, bills, car payments/maintenance, groceries, school fees, EVERYTHING
subtract OUT from IN and find out how much you have left.  If you're not happy with the answer you get, look back at your list and figure out where you can minimise the OUT list or maximise the IN list.
That's where things get tricky.  This might be where we need to do some more research.  Once you've cut the smoked salmon and caviar out of the groceries and you're still not left with much at the end of the week where do we go?
This is why we are here.  This is what we are going to figure out.
My aim is to collect ideas big and small for those of us wanting to save a little from our spending to those of us wanting to cut right back to the basics of an era similar to that of the Great Depression!

I've worked out my INs and OUTs and I'm pretty happy, however, the more I can save, the sooner we can afford to buy our house.  So... tightening the belt AGAIN!