Know where your money is going! Account for all of it.
I got paid by my job yesterday and I tend to have a lump sum of money hanging out. I also have a lot of ACH - automatic deductions that come out at various times of the month, but I have no idea when the deductions happen and how many there are. Because, what will happen and has happened, I will randomly spend that money going out to dinner, impulse buying etc. This group is making me aware of my fiscal habits and what I need to clean up. So now it's time to go back into a couple of months banking and see what's coming out and when. I heard a saying, IF WE DON'T HAVE A PLAN, THEN WE PLAN TO FAIL...something like that. LOL