Use Excel, MS Money or a pen and paper to draw up a list of spending 'categories'. Everyone's will be different, but examples are:

Income - Salary, benefits, additional income Essential bills - Mortgage, Council tax, electric, gas, water, groceries, TV license Medical - optician, dentist, prescriptions Communications- mobile phone, landline, broadband Non essentials - going out, DVD/CDs, clothes, haircuts, Satellite, presents, holidays Transport - car tax, MOT, maintenance, insurance, petrol, other travel costs, parking. Insurance - life, contents, building Savings – savings, pension Children - pocket money, childcare, activities etc Debts - Credit card1, Creditcard 2, loan...

Turn your list into a table, with the categories down the left hand side. An interesting thing to do before you start is to write down in the next column what you *think* you spend each month. Remember that annual costs need to be budgeted for each month, by working out the annual cost and dividing by 12.

Then create a column for each month that you have statements for, and start filling in the figures. If you work in cash, you will find this quite hard to do retrospectively, except for direct debits. Do what you can, and then start keeping a spending diary to see where your cash is going. Take a notebook wherever you go and write down every penny you spend. Use this to fill in your spreadsheet. This can often be a real eye opener!