The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has reported that personal savings rates are at the lowest levels since the Great Depression and disposable incomes seem to have become a thing of the past.

If that weren’t enough, many American’s are being forced to live off accumulated debt, resorting to the use of credit cards to meet their basic living needs.

If your credit card and personal debt has become larger than your monthly mortgage or rent payment, it’s time to take stock in the bottom line.

What can you do to safeguard yourself and your family from recession and keep the collection dogs at bay? By following a few simple steps, you can help increase your savings, help decrease your debt load and help decrease your overall stress.

1. Take stock in yourself. How can you do that? Look at your bottom line. Take a piece of paper out (forgo the computer for now) and draw a line down the middle (this is a rough form of a general ledger). Write “Expenditures” on top of the left column and write “Income” on the top of the right side column.Now it’s time to take stock of all of your money and I mean every single penny that goes out of your wallet and bank account or onto your credit cards even if it’s for a candy bar.In order to do this, you will need to save all receipts, big or small for an entire month. Then tally up the receipts by categories, e.g. food, gas, fun, etc. Put the category tallies on to the left side of the sheet of paper.

   In addition to accounting for money that is going out, you also need to account for every penny that comes into your bank account or wallet.

   On the right side of the sheet of paper put every penny that came into your pocket, bank account or was thrown on the counter in the form of change for that month. To make sure you have an exact total, try to keep track of your expenses and income weekly.

   After one month, you will have a basic idea of where your money goes and you will have a better look at the bigger picture. Add up the two columns separately. If the left side of the paper (expenditures) equals more than 90% of the right side of the paper (income), your bottom line is dropping at an exponential rate. If you are saving at least 10% of your income, pay off your debt and bank the rest. If you aren’t, you need to make small changes. Small change can equal to $$ literally!

2. Now that you have the general scope of exactly what comes in and goes out of your bank account concerning your money, you can begin to make small changes. You need to ask yourself:
   • How much money do you spend on items that are unnecessary? (You will find that information on the expenditure side of your general ledger.)
   • What can you cut back on to help raise your bottom line and increase the value of your personal stock?
   • What can you cut out entirely to help pay off outstanding debt and start banking those pennies, nickels and dimes? (Remember, small change = $$.)

   Here are a few ideas to help you begin to shave off spending and begin paying off your debt and banking the rest of your money:

   • Drink coffee from your own brewery and not at your favorite java house. If you miss the social time you had at your favorite coffee joint, why not start your own coffee club? Have each person hosts the coffee club at their residence on different days. Everyone must bring his or her own cup of java and any snacks; this is just social time, not a time when everyone pays for everyone else.

   The savings from avoiding the extra coffee fees when you buy at your favorite coffee hut? $2.95 x 3 days x 52 weeks = $460.20. If you are a java hut addict and you purchase your coffee at a coffee shop 5 days a week, your savings will be $767.00. Think about what you could do with $767.00!

3. Stop entertaining yourself with expensive items such as $10 movie tickets and $20 fees into your favorite dance jive and cut the extra cable or satellite fees out. Those extra expenditures add up to quite a bit of money in the end. Going to just one movie a month for two people adds up to $20 x 12 = $240. Going out dancing once a month adds up too $40 x 12 = $480. Satellite TV adds up too $19.95 x 12 = $239.76. Add all of these expenditures together and the savings is $959.76!Instead, create your own movie night and have friends and family over. Utilize the movies that everyone already has. You will be amazed to find out how many current movies people have stashed away on DVD that you have never seen. Alternatively, join your local library and utilize their free DVD check out system. Most libraries have the most current DVD’s on file and you can check them out for seven days without any cost out of your pocket!Make your own dancing disco in your own residence. You can also check out your favorite music without cost at the library! Invite friends and family over (everyone brings their own beverage and snack) and have fun!

   These are just a few ides to help you cut out extra spending, decrease your debt load and increase your savings account.