Do you have a monthly budget?

Starting this month, I am done spending. That is my budget.

I think that's smart. I try to do the same, myself.

Good plan. I always go over budget, but not now. You have to have money to have a budget. So no budget for now

I wish I could explain it in MUCH greater detail why (and some may be completely shocked by this) I am NOT a proponent of budgets. At least, not budgets in the traditionally held sense. I give myself, first of all, a set salary each month, and that salary doesn't care how much I actually make. For example, even if I make $10,000 a month, my salary is still only $4,000 a month. A week or so before the beginning of the new month I add up my total bills and write them all down and that's that. When it comes to spending allotted, that's also a fixed amount and covers EVERYTHING from groceries to clothes to toilet paper to gas for the cars to eating out...when it's gone it's gone, so it gets managed very closely. So, why don't I like traditional budgets? In a nutshell they are unrealistic for one, and it's hard to account for "hidden expenses" on an annualized basis. I also think it is silly to have separate line items for things like clothes or entertainment. Just set a spending limit and let that spending limit account for whatever you will spend money on, discretionary or non-discretionary and leave it at that. If that amount needs to be adjusted, find the adjustments. I usually recommend, for the spending allotment part, to track all receipts for 3 months before setting the spending allotment amount, and getting an average. That usually will put you right about where you need to be to know exactly how much you need to allot. Incidentally, it sometimes also allows you to see right away where cuts can be made. As for where to set the salary amount? 1.25 times the average monthly expected expenses. If your average expected monthly expenses are say, $3000, you set your salary at $3750 to give yourself $750 to work with when things like renewing plates on your car comes up, or if a utility bill is a little higher one month, or for whatever other extra expense that may be added for whatever reason. If you don't use the extra? It gets added back to savings or investments. Rinse and repeat.