Here is how we save money and stay out of debt.
In our house, I have always taken care of the home finances and my husband takes care of our investments...401K & Stocks. I have set up a budget years ago that we follow pretty close. I save for EVERYTHING. I keep a ledger and have created many columns in the ledger & have calculated for every known expense we have through out the year such as; home/auto insurance, property taxes, license plates, etc., that must come out of each paycheck to meet these bills annually. Then I have extra columns for all misc. items that I must save for future purchases or repairs like appliances, furniture, riding lawn mower,auto maintained & spending money to name a few. These particular columns might only get 10 or 20 dollars in them every pay period, but they do add up in 3 or 4 years......patience. There is not always allot of pay check left after budgeting everything, but it sure as heck takes the worry out of how I am going to pay my major bills when the bill comes due. This is what has worked for us. It does take some discipline and patience. We only get paid twice a month so we have to be disciplined in out spending. I hate credit cards too. I do have one, but I make sure I can pay it off the next month, if I have to use it. I look at the kids now days. They want EVERYTHING right now. They don't think about how they will pay for it, or if they can! They can't seem to distinguish between their needs and wants.