You’ll hear me, and every other personal finance blogger out there, tell you what to do to get out of debt. Cut back spending… get a second job… make a realistic budget… and on and on…

But have you ever stopped to think about why you CAN’T get out of debt? Seriously, take a second today and ask yourself why you can’t seem to do it.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in trying to do what we’re supposed to in order to get out of debt, that we fail to actually identify what makes us personally get there in the first place and why we can’t get out. After all, the reason I can’t get out of debt might be totally different than yours. You may be laughing every time I talk about budgeting because you’ve already made this amazing budget that would impress the uber-excel nerds and are doing a great job at following it… but you may be struggling in other areas.

The most recent podcast was entitled America’s Budget Crisis and contained a panel of bi-partisan economists, comptrollers, and others to discuss the state of the U.S. budget crisis. I highly recommend listening (or watching below) this program. Although the topic might bring to mind a lot of “gloom and doom” talk, the program is actually full of hope, helpful ideas, and recommendation on how we can make a difference.

Listen to the podcast here, or simply watch below.

My favorite advice is to carefully budget the money you earn on breaks. This is a big one. I see too many friends and family who works so hard during the summer to make enough money to last another semester or year, but then they fail to plan ahead. Perhaps it’s the false sense of security that comes with seeing big numbers in your bank account, but too many students feel that the money earned during the break will last them an entire year. So if I were to add my 2 cents to the discussion, I would recommend sitting down BEFORE the break and calculate how much you’ll need for the next year - so you know how much you need to work. Then at the end of the break sit down again and budget out how much you’re going to spend. This will not only keep you from eating ramen every day, but will teach you sound personal finance habits for the rest of your life!

Wouldn’t it be nice if our children grew into adulthood in a world without credit cards? Look at all the problems that would be solved in a cash-and-carry society — no gut-wrenching debt overloads, no junk mail from credit card issuers, and perhaps most important, fewer opportunities for cyber thieves to steal our identities.

It’s an interesting idea - could you live without credit cards? Do you wish society didn’t have credit cards?

He received a ton of responses to the piece from people criticizing his head-in-the-sand approach to credit. But some of the responses, listed below, provide some valuable insight into the way people think about credit. In fact, the following statements prove to me that most people believe credit cards are a good thing, when used wisely.

“Easy credit is ubiquitous in our society. If it isn’t bank plastic, there are pay-day loans, no-interest mortgages and floods of home-equity loans. ”

On credit cards and children:

“I gave them credit cards about the same time they got driver’s licenses. Of course, these were cards on my accounts with their names on them. And when the bill arrived every month, I knew exactly what they had spent and on what.

By laying down the rules this way, I required they pay off their balance every month. If they didn’t have the money, I took the cards back and deducted it from their allowance until the debt was paid. Being denied allowance was a shock, and they quickly learned the basic lesson — credit cards are not free money; it has to be paid back.

My kids — one recently graduated from college, and the other a senior — have their own credit cards today but use them strictly as convenience cards. There is no huge debt being amassed. They already learned the lesson firsthand but under conditions where things would not get out of control.”

“I am a Depression child. I was taught to only buy what I could pay for. You certainly won’t get in financial trouble. I have tried to live up to this, but I have had cash refused. I have never thought I would experience this. This is scary.”

Earlier this month, student loan provider Nellie Mae surveyed graduate-school students about credit-card usage. Among other things, the report found that 93 percent of these highly educated students try to pay at least the minimum monthly requirement, but only 20 percent acknowledged paying off their credit card bills in full each month. That’s maddening, and signals an ongoing need for credit education in classrooms and on the home front.

But I whole-heartedly agree with Kevin’s basic thoughts on putting credit cards into the hands of college students: Don’t even think about it until your child can handle cash responsibly and has a firm understanding of the benefits and dangers of using credit cards. It also doesn’t hurt to help them set up something like an automatic withdrawal from their checking account to pay off the balance each month.

I love the convenience and purchasing power that credit cards offer people. But without the proper education, credit cards can turn into your worst nightmare.

Active Allowance.

That’s right, I can now manage and pay my children’s allowances online. That white board was getting a little crazy. (If you haven’t picked up on the sarcasm, please do so now)

I’m a big fan of the Internet and it’s magical tubes that make them work, but I also believe that you don’t need to do EVERYTHING online. Although a clever marketing idea that will undoubtedly make money… Active Allowance isn’t for me.

The service starts with setting up your children’s names and their weekly chores (the site calls them responsibilities). Then, each child gets their own checklist, which lists their chores for each day of the week.

Every day, they check off those items that have been completed. After you enter the totals into Active Allowance at the end of the week, each child’s earnings are calculated automatically and “deposited” into their Family Bank accounts (including extra for any bonus items).

Kids can go onto Active Allowance at any time to see how much they have in each account. If they decide to buy something, they simply print off a special “Family Bank” check, and present this to a parent. The amount is deducted automatically from their virtual account.

The idea is interesting, and I can see it working for older children (10+) by teaching them how to use the Internet effectively and even budgeting. But for younger children I would stick to handing out a $10 at the end of the week. Just make sure that you have a piggy bank of some sort set up so that $10 doesn’t go straight to candy or iTunes downloads.

If you’re just starting out and want to get a handle on your finances, Expensr, might be perfect for you. It’s biggest feature is its price ($0) but the web-based application is very good at what it does. It’s no quicken, but it allows you to track spending, projected spending, and create budgets.

You can upload your bank account statements in a .ofx format, or manually enter transactions as you would in your checkbook register. But a nice security feature that you won’t find on similar sites is the fact that you upload your bank statements manually. You don’t have to provide your bank username and pasword (as with some other finance products). OFX files do contain your bank account number, but not your bank username and password. Expensr does not store the OFX file after parsing it, only the transactions in it (name, date, amount).

One of the more interesting features (and my favorite) of Expensr is its social network. You can anonymously compare your spending against others. This means you get to see the aggregated data of the users of a particular tag. Want to compare your rent with other twenty-somethings? You might find your spending less on groceries that many of your peers.

As I said before, Expensr isn’t the world’s most sophisticated finance application, but it’s a very solid web-based finance app. If you’ve been putting off tackling your finances… this is a good place to start!

You’ve undoubtedly heard me talk about how minimizing taxes can be one of the easiest ways to save money. However, I usually only talk about how you can save money on your personal income tax returns. Another way in which you can save EVERYONE money is by helping the federal government save money.

Helping Uncle Same save money = Less taxes from your paycheck

I imagine at least a few of you are already rolling your eyes or even laughing out loud right now, but I want you to hear me out. I believe that all of the wonderful freedoms and rights that we enjoy on a daily basis are directly tied to responsibilities. One of the responsibilities that you and I have is to keep tabs on the spending habits of the government. If you and I don’t keep some of the boneheaded, bloated, and outrageously expensive legislation from being passed… you’ll eventually feel it in your back pocket.

A reader recently tipped me off to a great little site called WashigntonWatch.com which helps us all (regardless of your political affiliation) keep tabs on new legislation that’s being pushed through congress. But the site doesn’t stop there. The good folks at WashingtonWatch.com go so far as to report the financial effect each piece of legislation would have on the average American family.

For example, the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which authorizes the Homeland Security budget of $40 billion (yes, billion) is going to cost each American family approximately $372.97.

Have you heard of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007? This bad boy authorizes the appropriation of $25 million for fiscal year 2008 for the Attorney General to establish a program to repay student loans for certain prosecutors and public defenders who agree to serve for at least three years in those positions. Our cost? Only $0.74.

Not only can you get an overview of what’s happening on Capital Hill, but there are handy links to read the actual bill itself, read an analysis of the bill by the Congressional Budget Office, and see what people are saying about the bill.

With websites such as this one, it’s now even easier for you and I to fulfill our American responsibilities. I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy, but I REALLY hate when my hard-earned cash funds ridiculous pieces of legislation. Help me keep the government on budget and in turn, save yourself a little cash in the long run.