Out-of-control spenders need to ask for help
By Bankrate.com

After Bankrate.com ran a story on the seven-day money challenge, readers flooded us with e-mails describing their own savings success stories. They also had lots of advice and tips for others who need help sticking to a budget.

The money challenge is simple. Figure out how much cash you need to cover a week's worth of expenses such as groceries, gas, food out and entertainment. Then, get that amount of cash and put away your credit or debit cards. As you go through the week, jot down in a notepad what you're spending or you won't remember where the money went. Can you make it seven days? Or will you run out at midweek?

This exercise will help you understand your spending habits and identify where you can cut back in order to keep within your budget. If you need to create a budget, just use this handy work sheet.

The stories that follow are from readers who are conscious of their spending and proud of their saving ability. Maybe one of their tips will help you get on the road to saving.

Get help

Take a calculator to the store
My wife and I had what we thought was unmanageable debt -- several outstanding bills and a credit card that was way overdue. Last June, through a friend's recommendation, we sought advice through a nonprofit financial planning agency.

The first thing (the adviser) did was assure us that our debt wasn't as bad as we thought. Then she figured out a weekly allowance, based on our paychecks, and used the rest to pay our bills, both monthly utilities and outstanding bills.

The first couple of weeks were pretty hard because we still had our old spending habits. But as we went along and divided up our money before we spent it, it became easier to manage. Gas always comes out immediately, along with any extra we're given for upcoming planned medical expenses such as doctors' visits and prescriptions.

One thing that I've found that helps in planning out our spending is taking a calculator to the grocery store, to give me an approximation of how much I'm going to be spending. Before we were on a budget, I would have a list and get everything on it without any thought of how much I spent. But now, I just write down the cost of everything on the list and total it up before going through the checkout. If it's more than I have to spend, I just look to see what we can do without and put it back. Plus, this saves any embarrassment at the checkout if you have no idea of how much you've spent before you pay and have to put back anything. I have found that I spend about $30 less at the grocery store every time by doing it this way.

Another thing that I do that helps save some money is every time I have any loose change when I go home (coming home from work, coming back from the grocery store, etc.), I put it in the piggy bank we have. It doesn't matter if it's a penny or a couple of dollars in change, I put it in there. Since January, I've been able to save over $150 doing this.

Almost a year after having been on a weekly allowance, I'm happy to say that my wife and I are almost debt free and we're one car payment ahead.
-- James F.

Ask a friend to help
This is a story from personal experience. Thirteen months ago my best friend was experiencing severe money problems -- bouncing checks, late fees, and on the brink of losing everything.

She asked to borrow some money one day and I only agreed on one condition. She could only spend the money I gave her weekly and not a penny more after all the bills were paid. We cut up the debit cards and canceled the four 21 percent interest (some were even higher) credit cards.

After one month, all the bills were paid with no late fees for the first time in her life. She complained about not having enough money for fun at first. Thirteen months later, all credit cards are paid off, and she now has increased her weekly cash-only budget from the initial $100 a week for everything to $150 a week fun money and comfortable budgets for everyday expenses such as utility bills and food. She refuses to go back to debit or credit cards and prefers to purchase everything using only cash.
-- Paul D.