This is how much you have to save on a monthly basis or how much you'll need every month just to pay your bills and break even.

See tomorrowsmoney.org's free, online, interactive budget planner.

If your income meets or exceeds your expenses, you should be able to afford your current mortgage and remain in your home. If your expenses are greater than your income - meaning that you do not have enough money to cover your basic expenses - look to see how big the gap is. Could you afford to keep your home by giving up or cutting back on a few things? You may be able to make up the difference with some lifestyle changes and be able to stay in your home.

However, if after working through your current financial situation you decide that you may need to look at finding a more affordable house, know that most banks will typically estimate that you can afford a house that costs up to two and a half times your annual gross income (how much money you make yearly before taxes). Most banks will use something called a "28/36" housing ratio to determine how much money they'll lend you. 28 is the front end, or housing ratio. It means that a lender will typically want to limit your monthly housing expense (including mortgage payment, property tax and homeowners insurance) to 28% of your gross monthly income. 36 is the back end, or overall debt ratio. It means that a lender will want your monthly housing expenses PLUS your overall monthly debt expenses (i.e. car payment, student loan payment, credit card payments, etc.) to no more than 36% of your monthly income.

To figure out your housing ratio:

• Multiply your gross monthly income (your total monthly income including salary, dividends, alimony or child support, Social Security, pension benefits, etc.) by 28% (.28). This figure is the maximum monthly mortgage payment you can afford.
• Multiply your gross monthly income by 36% (.36) to determine the total monthly debt your lender will allow.
• Total up the current amount of monthly debt you're carrying (i.e. credit card debt, car loan payments, student loan payments, etc.).
• Subtract your current monthly debt from the amount in line 2 (the 36% total monthly debt ratio that lenders will allow). This number is the total monthly mortgage payment you can afford.

It's important to make sure that you're keeping up with your monthly mortgage payments to avoid being foreclosed on (where the bank sells your house in order to pay off the loan that you can no longer afford). If you're not able to afford your mortgage anymore, or even if you can't find the information you need to pay your bills and you're afraid to begin taking responsibility for bill-paying, call your bank before the situation spirals out of control. Explain your situation and that you really want to be able to stay in your home. Most lenders will be more than happy to meet with you and will want to work with you.

If your financial situation is such that you need to downsize, find a more affordable home with a lower monthly mortgage payment, or even move, you should be talking to a financial professional. All of those options mean making some pretty significant changes. You can begin by figuring out what sorts of expenses you could drop, what you could scale back on and how you could change some of your spending habits to meet your other financial obligations. In additional, working with a financial professional may help you identify some short term, temporary changes as well as some longer-term lifestyle changes you could make to keep the things that are important to you and your family and to create new goals.