In this day and age, it is not popular to be frivolous with your money. Indeed, financial responsibility is the watchword of the post-recession era and it is impossible to achieve this without a good, solid understanding of your income and expenditure.
In order to have a firm grasp on your financial situation it is important that you know how much you are making, and how much you are spending on everything from an enhanced annuity to that bi-weekly manicure. To achieve this kind of clarity, you will need to sit down and draw up a comprehensive budget.
To begin this process, it is important, primarily, to ascertain you income. If you have more than one job, add up your monthly earnings, after tax, so that you arrive at a total figure. This will serve as your base line. Next, tally up the money you spend every month on big payments like mortgages, cars and insurance.
Subtract this amount from the overall income figure and write down the amount you are left with. Next, add up the cost of your essentials: these are things like water, gas, electricity and, most difficult of all, groceries. Try to be as accurate as possible here; it is difficult to determine how much you spend on food shopping, but with a little thought it should become clear.
Once this has been subtracted from the remaining income, your left over should cover luxuries and non-necessary costs. If it doesn't, then you know that you need to reshuffle your financial priorities and take steps towards achieving better spending goals.