I would also add to this: Have an ultimate goal, so you know how to detail the plan.

Example: my wife and I wanted to be financially independent before we retired. (The goal.) To achieve this we would:
* Pay off our house mortgage entirely.
* Have no other outstanding loans, such as car loans.
* Have retirement funds and assets such that our net worth was over $1M.
* Have income from pensions, Social Security, and retirement income such that we had cash coming in equal to the amount we had left after we paid into the mortgage, loans, and retirement investments.

Then every quarter, we sat down to evaluate how we were doing. (Needless to say, the 2008-2009 evaluations were very demoralizing.) But we succeeded, even though it meant years when the “big vacation” was Christmas with my parents in Illinois. Not saying we weren’t lucky in spots, and VERY fortunate having no kids and being two people with 99.5% agreement on handling money.