My mom once called me a “leaky hose spender,” which is basically another way of saying I spend money in small amounts, albeit frequently.

She’s absolutely right. I often justify my purchases based on their dollar value and only that. As an example, I never spend more than $30 dollars on a pair of jeans — generally, they’re on sale — but I own a completely impractical sixteen pairs. That’s nearly $500. On denim. In hindsight, I could have splurged on a couple pairs of True Religion or 7 for All Mankind jeans. These brands, made famous by the likes of Fergie and Gym Class Heroes, most likely would a) look better and b) last longer.

I first began to realize the nonsense of my own spending habits when I eyed the heaping pile of magazines in the corner of my bedroom and considered the dollar value of such a collection. I completed the simple math problem in my head: 100 magazines x $4 (the newsstand price) = Oh boy, $400. I never order subscriptions. My reason? I don’t think I can afford them. Think again.

The cold hard fact of all this is that I’m simply not an inherently good “budgeter.” And now that I am 22-years-old and out of college, I need to be. I can no longer go through life assuming that a $3.70 Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte here and 17 i-Tunes downloads there aren’t going to add up. I truly believe that if this financial crisis has a silver lining, it is that perhaps now more Americans like me will improve their spending habits.

One tool I plan to use once I start my career is a personal budget spreadsheet. I happened to find a wonderful template on Vertex42.com, and you can even download it for free. I love this template because it has all of the bases covered. Any and all possible expenses (and earnings opportunities) are listed in a month-by-month format. It’s been a great resource in determining salary requirements, as well as estimating cash flow.

Not all young people spend money as frivolously or flippantly as I do, but we all have times when we make unwise purchases. Most recent grads know they can’t afford a $1,500 plasma screen TV. What they might not know is that they also can’t afford to waste $4 a day on junk each year.

Do the math.