Five budgeting tips from CEOs that anyone can use

Cash-strapped Americans trying to create or stick to a budget need look no further than CEOs from Corporate America.

After all, corporate execs have mastered the art of cost-cutting and reining in expenses. Check out these five strategies Corporate America uses to stick to a budget -- and learn how you can too.

1) Maintain "Just in Time" Inventory

Explanation: This technique protects companies from getting stuck with too much stuff -- and paying the high cost of acquisition, maintenance, storage and distribution for excess inventory.

Lesson: To be financially frugal, keep it lean. If necessary, you can always acquire more of what you need later.

What To Do: Don't spend today's money on "next season's" clothes, "next year's" birthday gifts, or anything else that's too far out. Improve your cash flow by only buying what's required now -- or over a relatively short time period.

For example, a couple with a newborn baby should resist the urge to run out and buy a new minivan, according to Michael B. Rubin, a Certified Financial Planner™ who runs Total Candor LLC, a financing planning firm in Portsmouth, NH.