For years I would write my bills down, figure my income and subtract bills from my paycheck to see what was left. It was a real good start but by payday it was either forgotten or something would happen to mess it up.

It finally dawned on me that way I was going about this wasn't going to work. I needed a different plan. Something that would make me understand problem and help me come up with a solution.

What I came up with was a little surprising, at least to me. I had been trying to solve my problems without being willing to make some major changes that needed to be made. I really wasn't serious about fixing problem.

After several years of counseling a lot of people about their finances, I've come to conclusion that this is what keeps many people from overcoming their financial woes. There are exceptions of course. In some cases there isn't much that can be done short of bankruptcy.

Before you sit down and try to develop a budget or decide what your future plans are, you need to decide if you are willing to follow it through to end. If you aren't, you will be just spinning your wheels. Here are few questions you need to ask yourself:

~~Are you willing to do without joys of what those credit cards can buy? ~~Are you willing to have your family sacrifice as much as you do? ~~Can you make hard decisions that will be necessary?

Remember, this is only first step, however, this is absolutely most important. If you can't cross this hurdle then going to next step is futile.

Things didn't change much when I grew into an adult. I got my paycheck and made sure that it was gone just as soon as I could get rid of it. Sometimes I even paid some bills.

It took me a long time to realize that some of your money is meant for tomorrow and what is meant for today has to cover your obligations first.

It would be easy to blame my folks for not teaching me right way to manage my money. It would be even easier to blame schools for not having a class for real life finances. The problem is that my folks or schools didn't pay price for me not learning these lessons. My wife and family did.

It's time that things change. We have gone generation after generation of having more debt and less knowledge of how to deal with it. We have to educate our kids, starting as soon as they know how to count, about necessity of saving and controlled spending.

I believe that, if we can afford it, we should consider giving out kids an allowance, not to ensure that they have money, but to pay them for what they do to help. Giving them money and not expecting anything in return is sending wrong message.

If you can't afford an allowance, encourage them to find ways to earn their own money. Running errands, babysitting, mowing lawns are all things that neighbors and friends would be willing to pay for.

Just as important as encouraging them to earn their own money is to emphasize importance of putting some of it away for things they want in future. Believe me, as a Father of 3 and a Grandfather of 6, they all have a big ticket item they have either seen on TV or that all their friends have that they just have to have.