Clark saw a disturbing story in The Los Angeles Times about how the rate of disconnect for utilities is up 50% year over year around the country. In Chicago, they've seen a 33% increase; in Detroit, 56%; and in Southern California, 15%.

This is partly because of the slowing economy. The solution is to trim your budget. Of course, there's a segment of the population that lives life so close to the edge that maybe there's nowhere you can cut.

But for most of us who are pinched, it's because we haven't analyzed how we spend and where we can change things. For example, 30 years ago people lived without the Internet, cell phones and pay television. Isn't it amazing how our expectations have changed so much in just one generation?

Think and re-think how you spend. Here are some pointers:

• If you spend $43/month on Internet, why not go Neanderthal and switch to dialup? You could save up to $400/year by doing so.

• When it comes to your cell phone, try a pre-paid plan like Net10.com.

• Stop paying for 1,000 channels of TV -- there's nothing on to watch anyway!

Clark mentions these 3 things just to get you thinking. We look at them as must haves. But survival only requires food, health, shelter and clothing. Not cable, cell and Internet.

The poster child for being thrifty is Clark's associate producer Joel. He's 24 and has not yet learned to blow every penny. While he does have a cell phone, he doesn't pay for TV or Internet. He also drives a used car he bought for $3,200 and typically wears used clothing. Clark even calls Joel "cheap." That's high praise coming from the penny-pincher himself!

Clark's now been using Mint.com for several months and loves it. Here's how it works: You register all your accounts with them and they analyze your spending to tell you if you'll meet your financial goals.

After Clark's high praise for the free service, Christa finally checked out Mint and also loves it. She thinks it's even easier to use than Quicken or Microsoft Money.

In addition to tracking your spending, Mint will also send you simple reminders when your bills are due. One of Clark's credit card bills got lost in the mail, but Mint reminded him so he didn't have to get a late fee.

So the Internet just offers one more tool that can help you gain control over your spending. But don't overlook the old-fashioned envelope method or the notebook method of keeping track of your expenses.

With Christmas fast approaching, Clark wants to tell you how to manage your holiday shopping list without going over budget. But first he has a dirty little secret to reveal: Half of all holiday shopping you do when they're supposedly shopping for others is actually for you! While this isn't true of everyone, this is a very typical pattern. So be honest with yourself and come up with a holiday shopping list that includes everyone you want to shop for and yourself. How much money can you afford to spend on yourself and others for Christmas? Decide what the total dollar amount is and stick to it. That way you'll avoid that January hangover effect when the credit card bills come due. Once you have your list and the grand total, you've got to put a dollar amount down for each person. When push comes to shove, you may have to drop people off the list or reduce the dollar amount by each name—including yours—until it fits within your intended budget. Bring this list with you when you shop. Consult it when you make a purchase. If you overspend one on person, cut somewhere else. If you spend less than you anticipate on someone, you have more money left to spend on somebody else. Clark loves it every season when people come up to him in the stores and show him their lists! One last hint: You may also want to purge the plastic from your purse or wallet and try paying for holiday shopping with cash only. When there's no cash left, there can be no more purchases. Clark recently spoke to a credit counselor who sees tons of clients by March because they can't handle their holiday bills. Don't let this be you!

Sometimes it seems like young people have a huge bull's eye on their backs for the banks. People who are between the ages of 18 and 24 are being killed with bank overdraft fees. The latest stats say they're paying more than one billion dollars in overdraft fees every year. Clark recently heard from someone who has a teen that overdrew a debit account by $15 and that generated $80 in fees. As a parent, it's getting more and more difficult to teach the young about money. But it must be done. When Clark was in school, you paid for things with cash. Today there's no equivalent in a credit-crazy world. While cash is finite, plastic is infinite. A parent's most important lesson to a son or daughter should involve a pen and a check register -- showing them how to take debit transactions seriously. Banks are only too happy to approve transactions that will result in overdrawn accounts and high fees.

There's a bill in Congress that's trying to make it so that a bank must contact you for approval before they overdraw your account. The banks, predictably, are incensed about this because they may lose profit. Clark loves it when people have more info to make smart (or dumb) choices. What happened to ethics and morality in the banking world? Why do bankers get up in the morning and try to figure out how to rip off fellow Americans? If a bank approves an overdrawn transaction that generates fees, how is that moral or ethical?? It's not. The bill will probably be killed because the bankers are so strong giving dirty money to politicians. So teach your children well and you'll save them from losing money in the school of hard knocks.