<prompt> Human: Background: Im in my late 20s, single, have almost no real responsibility, and make a good salary. For the past 10 years of my life, despite these things, I seem to have my stuff together for life except finances. I got into 10k of credit card debt in my early 20s and paid it off, but the debt was for no good reason. I literally have nothing to show for that debt. I know how to make a budget, I know how finances work, yet I cant seem to follow. I have very little in savings and have hardly made a dent in my student loans about 40k when I graduated, still around that number. I was able to follow a budget for a little while with some help from my parents being on my ass to pay off that 10k cc debt, but I always seem to revert back to my ways. Can anyone give me any tips on how to actually follow my budget for a long period of time? Its not that I dont know how to make one - actually putting it in action is my weak point. Ive tried only using cash and limiting it to per week I end up needing my credit card to buy things online. I dont really want to get rid of credit cards completely, as theyre very convenient and offer rewards, and I seem to be able to at least pay off the full balance every month. The problem is more that I dont save. This is what my current money situation looks like...Debt: about 40k in federal loans, I finally switched it over to the graduated payment plan of 10 years today. No other debt.Assets: pretty much nothing, I own a car no paymentsSavingsretirement accountsetc.: Traditional IRA with 5500. Roth IRA that I will put in 5500 with my work bonus at the end of this year. I have an old 401k account with my old employer with about 5k in it.My take-home pay is 6k per month. This is the general breakdown on how I spend money that doesnt change every month:1995 rent120 utilities includes electricity and internet only460 student loan payments12 hulu subscription80 gym membership15 radio subscription10 magazine subscriptions130 gas I live close to work so I dont think this can go much lower165 AAA membership car insurance included13 cat foodHere is where the rest of my money seems to go varies by month but these are averages from the last 6-12 months:400 groceries does not include eating out600 going out to eat and drink1000 travel or entertainment that isnt part of eatingdrinking I went to a lot of weddings this year, so this is probably not normal1000 shoppingclothesmakeuptoiletrieshousehold cleanersgroomingdrugstoreetc.Please help, no matter how much I make a budget or organize things, I never seem to follow it.  <response>: Seriously? You spend 400 in groceries. That absolutely ridiculous for ONE person. Then you spend another 600 on eating out?? To be blunt, thats fucking ridiculous. Not to mention the 2k youre throwing at clothing and entertainment. Youre spending my monthly salary on crap. You know what you need to cut out, stop kidding yourself. Combine your food, entertainment, and eating out - thats like 3k a month. Theres no excuse to be spending that much when youre posting here for help. You can easily halve that and still be very comfortable. Stop making excuses and do it. 