Money Mistakes: 8 Reasons Why You’re Failing Personal Finance

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If you have trouble keeping your finances in order it could be for one of these eight reasons below. Keeping a money chart, or having an organized, systematical method of managing money is a necessity once you're living on your own. Paying rent, mortgages, cell phone bills, grocery stores...we are consumed by paying bills.

1. You don't have an emergency fund.

In life, you should expect the unexpected, such as the sudden loss of a job. The last thing you want to do is be caught off guard and be forced to rely on credit cards or a loan that could get you into deeper financial trouble.

Extra credit: Establish an emergency fund of at least three to six months of expenses. And don't delay. You should start building your emergency fund as soon as you get your first paycheck.

2. You don't know how much you have in your bank accounts.

Overdrawing a checking account by just a few cents could result in lots of expensive bank fees. To ensure you'll never write a check for more than what you have, you should always know how much money you've got in all your accounts.

Extra credit: Set your overdraft limit to $0 and your debit card won't be allowed to overdraft your account. True, you could bounce a check. But if you're running your household like a business and balancing your checkbook regularly, that shouldn't ever be a problem. Consider using money management software to help manage your finances more closely.

3. You don't understand the difference between a want and a need.

One of the biggest impediments to getting your financial house in order is the inability to properly distinguish discretionary and nondiscretionary expenses (otherwise known as wants and needs).

Extra credit: Understand that when taken down to the most basic level, all of us have only four or five primary needs. Those needs are food/water, clothing, shelter, transportation, and health care. Everything else is a want.

4. You don't know how much money you spend.

It's pretty simple: The amount you save is the difference between how much you make and how much you spend. But it's tough to save anything if you don't know how much you can afford to save. That's why it's important to take a critical look at your expenses so you know exactly how much money you are spending.

Extra credit: Audit your expenses by writing down everything you spend your money on for a couple of months. The trick is to be as detailed as possible. Try to capture even the smallest purchases. Here is a budget worksheet to help get you started.

Read more at Yahoo Finance