It is very easy nowadays to spend more than you make. Credit cards have made it as simple as swiping a little card through a reader. You don't even have to sign at many places, such as fast food drive-thrus.

And you never really realize that you are spending more than you make. Until you get the bill.

If you can't pay your credit card bill in full each month, you are overspending. How many times have you bought things on your card and never really thought about how they add up until the bill arrives. Oh well, you'll pay it next month.

And credit cards aren't the only way to spend more than you make. Payday loans and car title loans are a great way to spend too much. They are addicting and easy to get. But you are paying almost 400% interest over the year for these loans. They simply aren't worth it.

You have to be careful with credit. It is a way of buying things you can't afford. Now I understand that mortgages and auto loans are very necessary. But they must be reasonable and you must be able to afford to pay them. If you buy more house than you can afford or a too expensive of a vehicle, you will have trouble.

So how do you know if you are spending more than you make? Can you afford what you are buying?

First of all, if you have credit card debt that is carried over from month to month, you are spending more than you make. Cut up those cards right now. You will no longer charge on them. This is it. You have to pay off that debt.

The way to do that -- and the way to figure out what you can afford -- is to develop a budget. List all of the bills and expenses you have. Everything. To the penny. Be honest. Then subtract the amount from your income. You want to see what is left over. If you don't have anything left over, you have some big changes to make.

It really doesn't matter how much you make, after all. It is all in how much you spend.

About the author: Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and
http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!