Manage your budget, and do it for free

House prices are falling, and the cost of gas and food is on the rise. Specialized software and sites can help you manage these financial changes. And if you use the right resources, it won't cost you a thing.

Create a budget

The first step to taking control is to understand how you spend your money. Start by determining your basic living expenses such as housing, food and transportation.

Then list other monthly expenses. This may take some work. So pull out your bills and credit card statements. Fortunately, free software can make light work of organizing it all.

SimpleD Budget (Windows) is a small program that helps you track expenses. You enter your monthly expenses and income. After allocating your money to certain categories, you enter payments as you make them.

You'll see when you're approaching the limit for a particular category. You'll also get an idea of how fast you're spending money.

Buddi (Mac/Windows) works much the same as SimpleD Budget. However, it can also help you generate various reports. For example, you can see how your net worth has changed over the months.

Another free finance manager is AceMoney Lite (Windows). It has more features than the other two. For example, it can download stock quotes from the Internet.

You can find links to all three free programs at www.komando.com/news.

Review your credit report

Once you know where cutbacks can be made, you're ready to make changes. Maybe you want to downgrade your car to a cheaper model. Or you may want to refinance your home.

Before you do this, you should review your credit report. A poor credit report can stifle your chances of locking in a lower rate on loans.

You'll want to check your report for accuracy and fraud. Then you can contact the credit bureaus to correct errors.

You can get your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request one copy from each of the three reporting institutions once a year. Those reports are free.

Find your credit score for free

Your credit score can play a large role when you apply for credit. Quicken Loans has an interesting site - Quizzle.com. It will give you a free credit report and throws in a score. That is a Quizzle score. It tells you how well you're doing as a homeowner. Quizzle also will help you gauge your home value. You'll also find out how to save on your mortgage. Additionally, there's a budget management tool.

For now, Quizzle is aimed at homeowners. It should provide service to renters soon.

CreditKarma.com also provides you with a free credit score. The score comes from one of the three major credit-reporting bureaus. The site will also help you monitor your score over time.

These are tough economic times. Using these resources could make them a little more bearable.