The first and probably the most important thing is to not do a rush job and shortchange yourself.

You can't get caught up in the stock market's daily swings or gaining 100 points one day and losing 100 the next day. If you do, you're just going to end up suffering from painful anxiety attacks.

Healthy financial habits start with making smart, conscious, reasoned-out decisions instead of letting outside forces dictate how you're going to live. If you're spending to impress your neighbors, your coworkers, or your clients, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. They won't be the ones working 'til they're 80 because you spent all your retirement money. You will. Make a big change now. Next year when you open those tax forms, you can feel good about what you earned and where it went.

However, people should do their homework before jumping in with both feet and selling one house to buy another in a completely different part of the country. Make sure you understand all of the pros and cons of places you're considering and that you're not simply falling in love with the concept of a better or easier life.

If it is a relatively small thing, like you transpose two numbers, that is less likely to trigger an audit than if you omit a large portion of your income,

Higher income earners are more likely to be audited because there is more tax money at stake, ... The IRS is a business, they have employees and they do not have time to let them audit people if they are only going to earn $2 worth of tax.

I promise that once you try living with an older fuel-efficient car, cooking instead of dining out five days a week, and paying with cash, you'll realize that you're just as happy as you were in your free-spending old life. In fact, you'll be happier. Less money anxiety and more time spent at home with your family will make the 'sacrifices' seem inconsequential.

If you have the choice between enjoying the weather and doing your tax return, it's not a hard choice.

The key to breaking the cycle for many people is to begin the process of questioning spending, and to not just continue to spend the way you historically have. If you're spending too much and saving too little, clearly you've got to change something.

There's this idea that you won't get caught, because the vast majority of returns aren't audited. But be careful of people who claim they can get you thousands of dollars back. You never know when you'll be audited.