Adopt an easy lesson plan on personal finance: spend less, earn and save more.

As you start to take control of your financial situation, you may be seeking out various lesson plans that will help you in your journey.

There are plenty of books you can buy, and seminars you can take, and videos you can download, all of them claiming to have the answers to all your finance questions.

But once you cut through the sales pitches and confusing language, they all boil down to the same thing: earn and save more, and spend less.

That’s the only lesson plan on personal finance that you really need. The single most common reason that people get into debt is that they overspend.

Pretty simple, right? It sounds so easy. “Don’t buy things you can’t afford.” And yet many Americans violate that rule of thumb almost every single day of their lives.

To get out of debt and gain true control over your finances, you must first do two things: create a budget, and limit your expenses.

First, the budget. If you’re married or have a partner, sit down together and list all your monthly expenses. First include the necessities: mortgage or rent, utilities, groceries, and so forth.

Underneath those, list the things that aren’t absolutely necessary but that you know good and well you’re not going to live without: cable or satellite, newspaper subscriptions, gym memberships, and so on.

Be sure to allow for things like dining out and going to the movies, or whatever other entertainment expenses you have.

It’s vital that both spouses be involved. It does no good for one person to make a budget while the other is out spending. Both people need to see the nuts and bolts of how your household finances work.

Once you’ve listed your monthly expenses, go down the list and see what you can eliminate or reduce. Groceries are a good place to start; through coupon-clipping and other resources, most people can reduce their food expenses quite a bit.

Consider canceling unneeded magazine subscriptions, club memberships, and other things too, but be realistic. Don’t vow to only go to the movies once a month if you know in your heart of hearts that you’re going to go every week.

Don’t set goals that are impossible or unrealistic. Any lesson plan on personal finance that advises you otherwise is setting you up for disappointment.

With your new budget in place, spend the next month carefully tracking how much money you actually spend. You might discover that you underestimated a lot of expenses.

Balance your checkbook daily, to see where exactly all your money is going. Only through careful planning and budgeting can your lesson plan on personal finance ever truly succeed.

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