Many people find themselves with credit problems because they don't keep track of purchases they make with their credit cards. A simple method of keeping track of monthly credit card charges is to:

• Determine the total amount you can responsibly charge on all your credit card accounts during that month.
• Keep track of your credit spending in the same way you maintain a running balance of your checking account.
• Subtract each amount charged from the monthly charge limit you set.
• Stop using your credit cards if you draw this balance down to zero.