Go back to the basics. Balance your checkbook and figure out where you can save money each month. "When you're living frugally and are going to do away with credit cards, it's a necessity to do a budget," says financial author and radio host Dave Ramsey.

"Stuff just doesn't seem to jump into your buggy when you have a game plan and when you have a goal. The goal is frugal living for a reason: To build some wealth and get out of debt so (your) family has some security," Ramsey says.

If you create a budget every month, you have a better chance of reducing your expenditures until they are less than your income, with room to set up an emergency savings fund.

Handle the purchases of large items in the same way. Delay the instant gratification of using a credit card by implementing the debt management lessons about saving you might have learned when you had a piggy bank or your first bank account. Once you have the money in your bank account to pay for an item, then you can buy it, Glass says.