Inspire me with your frugality

Total financial ruin filter: I am terrible at managing my very small amount of money. How did you learn to manage your money better than me? I don’t buy a lot of extraneous crap and I don’t eat out much. But I don’t budget either, and I’m constantly paying for stupid crap like overdraft fees and parking tickets – stuff that has to do with poor planning, also having to borrow from friends to make rent, bouncing checks, etc. Part of the problem is that I just don’t make enough money to get by. I’m going to school to get a degree in a field that offers much better pay than what I get now. I’ve also checked out some web resources about budgeting etc, and am meeting with a financial counselor soon. But I’m worried that the next couple years in school will send me into some horrible crisis that I can’t get out of! It’s even scarier because I have kids. In the meantime, can you tell me how you personally pulled yourself out of financial crisis? Did you marry someone with better financial skills? Did you start making more money? How did you force yourself to budget and stay within that budget? How long did it take you to change your habit – or, if you were just born with good financial management skills, what exactly do you DO that keeps things sane? Forgive me if this comes off as chatfilter, but I don’t think it is really. Your real-life stories are a good example to help me make choices about how I can do things better. Thank you!