How to spend money?

Rant warning. Just watched a tv show called till debt do us part. It is about couples who do not know how to handle their money or more precisely debt. I do have to say that we are lucky in Finland with the free education, so the student loan does not rise to the amounts that were in question in the show. Still there are many ways to increase the debt like was shown in the show. 

So basically it showed the couple who had lots of debt and no plan to pay it back. They were both in good income job, but still were able live so that it was not enough. First they were asked to write down what do they think they spend money on (credit card, rent, food, utility,etc.). They got the credit card debt correct, but were wrong about the interest. They only calculated the informed amount, and did not consider the other fees to be part of it. The thing to remember is that the fees do not decrease the debt, so if you pay just the fees and interest, you will still have the same debt. They also thought they did not spent as much money in cash, while the reality was that most of their expenses was made with cash. 

Really? It just seems that people have lost the focus on how to use money. The couple in the show spent closer to six thousand dollars per month, and that includes the interest and fees for the debt but not real down payment. Then they were given the budget of 1700 dollars for a month and specific instructions on what can they use the money. They had the budget divided per week installments. So in that one month they already saved about four thousand dollars towards their debts. As a reward for doing all the tasks and following the program they got a reward of five thousand dollars toward their debt. 

Now it is difficult for me to say what to do when one has larger amount of debt like the couple had, as I only have one credit card debt with the lowest amount it can be. I think it is that because I am used to not having that much money, that I can handle my own situation. So maybe it is that when you have that kind of an income that you can just buy anything that you forget that there actually is a limit. Especially if you just trust that the other person does the calculation on what is spent and where. 

The show gave the option of using only cash for the month, and cut all the credit cards and debit card. It is a good idea, as it will stop you from using the credit cards. I don't quite understand cutting the debit card though. It is good idea to have cash for the week. Not too much cash, and it has to last for the week. What I do is that I transfer most of my income into savings account and then transfer certain amount for the week into the checking account. I also go to the store two times a week and to movies or to other amusement thing once a week. Now I am saving to have living expenses for the few first months of the next year. So far so good, I have already saved the bare minimum I need, so all the rest is just extra. Also it helps that now I don't need to calculate that much how much I spent on the xmas presents for the kids.