Rahul wasn't quite sure where all his money went each month – it was time to get his finances in order.

Rahul reckons he earns a pretty reasonable salary. But by the end of the month, he's always in trouble. What's worse, he has absolutely no idea where all his money has gone.

Enough is enough – he wants to get back in control.

To see where his money goes, he decides to track his spending. For a month, he'll note down everything he buys. And, although it's a bit of a faff, at the end of the month, he finds it really easy to understand just what's been happening.

For the first time, Rahul can clearly see how much he needs to spend on fixed costs each month – his rent, his student loan, his transport costs. The supermarket run is an essential one too. There are some unavoidable one-off things, such as his mother's birthday present. But he's horrified to see how often he goes to the cashpoint – even though all he seems to spend the money on is takeaways and the pub. Oh, and clothes. And DVDs.

Now he can see exactly how much he has to spare after he's paid for the essentials. He decides to take out a set amount of cash each week for personal spending – and stick to it.

Rahul knows there's another issue to deal with. When things get tight, he tends to put spending on his credit card. Although it's more or less under control, his bills are mounting which means he'll be charged interest on an ever increasing amount.

Rahul resolves to pay this off as soon as possible and works out the largest amount he can afford to pay to his credit card company each month. And he'll stay away from the credit card for a while.

Swati and Lakshmi: good friends with very different attitudes to money.

Swati and Lakshmi are flatmates. Of course, there are a lot of expenses involved in sharing a flat, and, fortunately, they get along fine with those. But in all other ways they are very different in how they think about money.

Swati 's hopeless with saving. If she has cash to spare, she'll be spending it. She's more likely to be tempted by risky money-making schemes. She lost her money the one time she actually tried one, but the experience hasn't made her change her ways.

Lakshmi's the opposite – she's very cautious with money. She knows where every paisa of her salary ends up and she has a regular direct debit going into her savings account.

While Swati and Lakshmi's attitudes may be poles apart, they both need to start thinking more clearly about the future. After all, perhaps one day they'll both want to buy a place of their own. And then there's their long-term future too.

Swati needs to tame her wild impulses, sort out her budget and start saving – preferably somewhere where she won't be able to get her hands on the money.

Lakshmi has the saving habit but her savings are growing very slowly. She's naturally cautious, and needs to consider what level of risk she's comfortable with to achieve higher returns.

They both commit to making a plan and set up appointments with few financial planning adviser