It took me a long time to fully understand that money is for managing first and then for spending. It takes courage to believe that, but when you do, it will profoundly change the way you think about and manage your money.

Imagine this: It's Friday, a day you have come to know and love as cake day. You want cake, you love cake and doggone it, you deserve to eat cake. You stop at the store and pick up the ingredients necessary to bake a cake. But even before you can get home, you begin eating the ingredients because you are so hungry for cake you simply cannot help yourself. You gulp a couple of eggs; chew up some butter and sugar; and down a load of flour and cocoa.

You pull into the driveway completely disgusted with yourself. You try to hide the evidence, but it's all over your face. The worst part: Eating the cake was not nearly so satisfying as you'd dreamed. It was anything but enjoyable. The ingredients for your chocolate cake are gone, and now you feel ashamed and embarrassed.

An absurd analogy for sure, illustrating the foolishness of eating food that has not been prepared yet. The very same ingredients that made you sick could have become a culinary masterpiece had you exposed them to a recipe. Those ingredients were not for eating; they were for preparing first and then for eating.

It is equally foolish and unsatisfying to spend money that has not been managed first. To manage money means to take full possession of it, to subject it to a specific plan and direct it accordingly. It is a matter of creating a season of ownership between receiving and dispersing.

Managing money is a learned discipline, a gratifying process. When money flows into your life, you are responsible for where it goes and how it performs. You are the boss. You can watch it drift out of your control, or you can manage it according to a formula that you have developed.

It doesn't matter if you are a single parent struggling to survive with no outside help or the CEO of a prosperous business. You need to know ahead of time exactly how you will manage your money.

There are certain mandatory elements that must be part of your management system, such as giving and saving. When you bring reason to the management of your income, feelings of dissatisfaction, worry and hopelessness will quiet down. You will be driven to plug the money leaks in your life. A commitment to spending no more than you earn will become so important you'll find yourself keeping track of where the money goes.

No matter your situation — single, married, old, young, deeply in debt, unemployed or at the top of your career — you need a system through which to process every dime that enters your life. Only then will you fully understand why money is not for spending. It is for managing first and then for spending.

Mary Hunt is the founder of DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at [email protected], or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.