Tonight, we ring in 2011—our annual homemade pizzas are in the oven, the champagne is chilling and the noisemakers are ready & waiting. Tomorrow, we all start fresh—a whole new year. A whole new chance to get our lives under control.

And, it all starts with the budget.

We’re kicking off 2011 with an awesome series to help you get a better handle on your finances. You’ll learn how to create a budget from scratch, or tweak an existing one. This series will help you find wiggle room in your budget, whether your goal is building up the 401(k), to pay off credit card debt, building your emergency fund, paying mortgage off early or just to start saving for fun things like vacations & large purchases.

Step by step, we’ll walk through the process of creating, lowering and using a household budget to improve your life. Each day of January will offer new tips, ideas and a challenge to start the year with a solid financial plan. Join us daily, work each step throughout the year, or catch up later—whenever you have 31 days to devote to a better budget.

I’m not a financial planner or a budget expert. I’ll just be walking you through the steps I take each time my budget needs an adjustment. In fact, I’ll be participating myself!