Take control - Your Spending: Rein It In - The first step to balancing your budget is to set your priorities

摘要

HOW TO GET THERE: The recession has given Joanna and Adam Abrahams a crash course in household budgeting. The Silver Spring, Md., couple had to take a hard look at their spending when Adam, 39, lost his job as a lawyer for a title-insurance firm in late 2008. Although Joanna, 38, kept her job as an attorney for the Office of Personnel Management, they had to rethink their finances so they could afford child care for their two daughters plus make payments on their mortgage, their law-school loans and their credit-card debt.