To get started, track your expenses for a couple of months. Then you should be able to start filling in your estimated debits and deposits for the next few months. Once you get it rolling for a while, you will be able to see your budget for the upcoming months reflected in the estimated totals. You can even notice year-to-year trends, like bonuses, tax bills, etc. that come up routinely and it will help you budget accordingly.

We know intellectually that money can't buy happiness yet we spend and go into debt as if it does.

I understand why many are still poor or struggling to make just a middle-income lifestyle. I'm a fiscal conservative, but I also have compassion for people who make financial mistakes.

We have to protect ourselves by doing our own homework.

I think you can save and spend to live for however long you live. You just have to be flexible if things don't go as plan.

The number of those 19 to 25 with private insurance increased from 51 to 55.8 percent, and the percentage of uninsured fell from 33.9 percent in 2010 to 28.8 percent during the first half of 2011.

We all fall - even me.