There is one formula that, should you follow it, will GAURANTEE that you will never go in the red. It may seem like common sense, but nearly 30% of Americans are in debt, according to CBS News. Are you ready? Here it is: make sure your income > expenses. Tah –dah! Don’t spend more than you have. I don’t mean to come off as mocking, but while this may be basic knowledge, an incredible amount of people don’t follow it.

Do you need the $40,000 car when you only have $10,000 to spend? (The answer is no, if you are serious about this Money Thing.) When you borrow money, what you owe is never just the sticker price, but a ridiculous amount more, because of the interest rates. This is how people fall into thousands and thousands of dollars of credit card debt. (However, credit cards aren’t evil! In fact, they’re incredibly helpful, when used right). Basically, if you don’t have the money already, don’t spend it.

If you’re like me, at a college that you couldn’t afford on your own, then you have some debt. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about that too. I just want to set up a basic framework for how we are going to look at this whole Money Thing. Getting out of debt is step one. Step two is using the magical formula to never be in debt again. Finally, we’re going to look at how to make your money work and grow for you. Today’s formula was common sense; but we’re in this for the long haul – college cents.