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You can do a quick-and dirty alignment in your garage if your wheels are not bent and you have tires that have tread lines that are easy to measure.
All you need is a 12' tape measure and wrenches that fit your tie rods.
Simply stated, the front of your tires should be 1/8" closer together than the rear of your tires. That is, they toe in 1/8".
Measure them and see if they are toed in too much, or are toed out. Then draw a line sketch of the tires and the way your steering wheel is positioned when the car is going straight ahead. You will be able to figure out which tie rod to adjust to bring the toe in to spec while correcting the steering wheel angle.
If you really want to get carried away, you can tape a couple of small blocks of 1x2" wood to a bubble level such that they fit inside the lip on the rims, and set your camber. Both tires should be tilted slightly outward at the top when they are pointed straight ahead. I have forgotten the amount, but they should both tilt outward slightly and they should both be the same (unless you always drive on 2-lane highways or always drive in the slow lane, in which case you can tweek the camber slightly to compensate for road crown, but that is way beyond this quick-and-dirty technique).
This approach is NOT as good as having a competent technician with real wheel alignment equipment align your car. The advantage to this approach is that it saves you $80 and it is being done by someone who actually cares about your car - you. I've been doing my own alignments on my Toyota, BMW, and Volvos for 25 years. The cars drive OK and the tire wear pattern looks even.
If your car has been wrecked, or if your rear axle bushings are shot, then the rear axle may not be square with the car. In that case, all bets are off with regard to alignment, though a good technician can sometimes compensate for some collision damage.
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