<prompt> Human: Ill try my best to post everything that I normally see everyone else post here...My background:My family grew up very poverty stricken. No savings, no college fund, no help expected or wanted from my family. Because of this, I paid for five years of schooling with loans and a part time job. I got a lot of grants throughout school, and some early scholarships that helped from high school.Needless to say, money during school went towards bills I used the loans to pay rentschool only. I left school with no savings and 35k in debt.My Wife:Her family was bit more well off. My wife only took loans for the extra money, but her parents plan on paying everything off and dont expect us to pay any of her loans and all. Theyre stubborn and wont let us help even if we tried. Im not sure if the loans were parent PLUS loans, but I would assume that they are.She left college with no debt, and 2100 in savings.Luckily, we both got decent starting jobs and are working full time.After taxes, We pull in about 3120 a month in income. This is after benefits are paid for. Weve been working on a budget since our marriage in August, and have had to tweak it every month.Our budget as of right now:Giving - Tithing - 150Donation we have friends in a church that make their salary from giving - 100Giveaway - 62Monthly Bills - Rent - 790Gas - 5Water - 40 estimated, we havent paid a full month yetElectricity - 100Car Insurance - 98Renters Insurance - 13YMCA - 50Mobile Phones - 70InternetCable - 75HealthLifeDentalVision - Taken out before taxes, not included in our budgetEveryday Expenses - Groceries - 300Hygiene - 40Fuel - 120RestaurantsEntertainment - 75Clothing - 50Household Goods - 40Her Spending - 25My Spending - 25Dog - 50Misc. - 40Savings - Emergency Fund - 312Car - 105Medical - 22Gifts - 50Vacation - 23Student Loan Payment - 375 first one is in December, havent gotten an exact amount yetAs you can see, the numbers just dont add up. Were wanting to see what we can do better in order to set us up for the future. Any help is appreciated and Ill reply as often as possible for further explanation. Id love to be able to share with her any updates or changes that we can make.  <response>: You could try volunteering your time instead of donations tithing for a while until you build up some emergency savings. Your average net hourly wage is coming in at 9.75 - at 320 in charitable donations, thats the same as 32 hours of your time.I know tithing is a church thing so it might be a deal-breaker for you to drop, but think about it. Ive seen opinions go both ways tithe no matter what as a sacrifice, or tithe only if or what you can afford to give, and I personally fall in the latter category, so YMMV. Maybe you already volunteer with your free time, so this suggestion doesnt apply to you - if so, good on you!Id try to see how much more you can cut down your food budget - try cutting out convenience foods, switching to dark meat from white meat, cooking in bulk and freezing, etc.Id also cut out the YMCA - thats cheap for a gym, IMO, but theres lots of places to get exercise including your own home. 