With the credit crunch, rising fuel and food costs and a real sense of uncertainty about the future of the Economy, now is the perfect time to take stock of your financial situation, and start to get richer on your own money by cutting the waste.

Our top 7 guidelines for cutting the waste, and getting richer are:

1. get a notebook, and write down/ RECORD what you spend daily, every time money (or these days a credit card) comes out of your pocket, you want to be noting it, (do this for 28 days),

2. REVIEW your notes at the end of the week - how much are you spending that you consider "wasteful", are you happy with your findings?

3. it is much easier and often healthier to REPLACE a routine or behaviour than it is to eliminate it.

For example, if you were considering whether or not to cancel a gym membership, it would be extremely important that you plan to adapt your exercise routine to meet your health and fitness needs by going for a run or playing football. Likewise instead of a latte or other such concoction, bring your favourite cup in to the office and start to make your own tea or coffee,

4. PLAN in your notebook what will be different about this week, e.g. limit myself to a lunch budget of £20 per week.

Give yourself achievable actions that you can easily make progress on, like "phone 3 insurance agents for quotes on car insurance before I renew my policy this week",

5. now that you have begun to MANAGE your money, you want to start to aim a bit higher, maybe by increasing your earning power or ultimately starting your own business. To do so, we recommend getting to grips with the GOAL SETTING process. A simple one to begin with may be - "I want to earn an extra £100 cash per week/month (its up to you)". Stick with it until you achieve your goal, and then step it up. Progress is among the secrets to success in anything,

6. To transform your experience with money, you need to begin thinking about it in a radically different way. Greatly neglected over the last decade the key to this system is to BECOME A SAVER. Importantly, we are not talking about saving for a rainy day, but saving in order to attract more money to you.

Again, this is one of those processes, that you need to "suck it, and see". But mark my words you will love the results it produces.

10% is the figure that you should aim for, but anything is a beginning, and getting started is by far the most important part. Open a new bank account, or decide to use an existing one ONLY as your Wealth Account. The sole function of this account is to accumulate wealth for you - DO NOT SPEND!

7. DONATE 1% - 10% (ideally 10%, but 1% to begin with is fine) of everything that you earn to charity. This will give you a great feeling, and you will be surprised by the results that show up in your life.

We all know that it is difficult to give and not get something in return, even if its only a sense of feeling good. Go on, have the courage to give it a go.

Stop "settling" and start "living!"