Is the economy in a bad situation or is the media the problem to blame? I still live my normal life, not saving much, till I found Mint.com. This service lets you manage your budget, expenses,  and investment. It has an iphone and android app so you can see it on the go. I use it to see if nobody has used my debit card. Also, if you use your credit card and debit card for everything you can see how much you waste on food, gas, shopping and much more. I strongly recommended it. Oh, and about security do not worry Mint's back-end(servers) use the same security as banks. So don't worry much.