Regardless of your individual financial picture, financial responsibility is about making smart decisions with your money, everyday, every purchase, and always with some attention to the future. It takes information, planning and self-control. But don't let that scare you away from trying to be responsible with your money. Here is a very basic starting plan to being financially responsible.

The Information

Know the difference between an essential cost and a discretionary one

Your heating bill is an essential cost, your cable bill is not. In fact, there are really very few essential costs. Rent or mortgage payment, utility bills, groceries and transportation costs (car or monthly bus pass) are the basics. If you have young children, then you have a few more. But everything else is discretionary which means you can do without, or do with less of any time the finances are tight. When you are deciding if you really need something, be realistic about whether it is a need (essential cost) or a want (discretionary cost).

The Planning

Keep track of your spending

This tends to freak people out, but at the most basic level you need to write down every time you spend money. That is all there is to it. And that means if you use a credit card, if you pay cash, if you write a check, or use your bank's bill pay system, write down those expenses. That means whether you buy coffee at Starbucks, or rent a movie at Blockbuster Video, or take a trip to the grocery store, or gas station, all of those expenses, even the small ones, need to be recorded. And do not forget that your bank and your credit cards send you statements every month. That means half of the work is already done for you.

The purpose of writing it all down is to understand where you spend your money, as best as you possibly can. It is about making informed decisions about your money when you need to.

Don't sit on your debt, pay it down

Managing your credit cards is a skill, something you need to work on from the moment you sign up for your first card. Not only should you pay as much as possible to your credit cards every month, but you also need to prevent yourself from putting additional charges on the cards. If you pay off your credit cards to a zero balance each and every month, then you are way ahead of the rest of us. But if you carry a balance on any card, you cannot keep using that card if you ever expect to get ahead in your finances.

The Self-Control

Spend less than you make

It is easier to say than it is to do, but it is especially important when there is less money to go around. If every dollar goes to necessities, then sometimes there is no way to spend less. But in other cases, you need to consciously make the decision to not buy something in order to keep your credit card balances down, or have more cash for the end of the month.

Know when you are in trouble, and when you are not

All of these steps take some practice. Just like anything else, you need to balance what makes sense on paper and what actually fits reality. But you also need to realize when it is not time to hit the panic button. Because even if you do not have a perfect record with your money, just the fact that you have started thinking about these things means you might be in a better position than most.

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