<prompt> Human: My wife 27 and I 35 can never seem to follow our budget. Weve tried lots of thing but are always a few hundred off. We make a decent amount 60k but arent saving , even dipping into savings. Ive pored over our budget and cant find anything put trivial expenses to cut. Whats going wrong here?Assistant: Thanks all. Heres a monthly budget breakdown:Income: 3500Expenses: 3800 rough math, doesnt count more sporadic expenses like car insurance, maintenance, plane tickets for family events, emergenciesRent - 900Student loan - 500Food - 400Utilities incl cable, which is an extra 80 - 175Cell Phone 2 smart phones - 200Personal cash my wife and I each get for clothing, haircuts, etc - 440Gas I commute pretty far - 350Household items - 100Gym membership - 80Medical - 250Charity - 200I feel like were spending way too much, but aside from radical changes like moving into a studio apt next to work which would make us seriously unhappy, I dont know what to do.  <response>: These are the things I think you should take a really good hard look at. Food - 400 do you really need to spend this much? Cable - 80 is this really necessary? Cell Phone 2 smart phones - 200 do you really need to spend this much? Personal cash my wife and I each get for clothing, haircuts, etc - 440 ???!!! Gym membership - 80 is this really necessary? Charity - 200 is this really necessary?---Although I think your biggest problem with budgeting is this: ...our budget doesnt count more sporadic expenses like car insurance, maintenance, plane tickets for family events, emergenciesYour budget needs to include all of these things, even though theyre sporatic. If car insurance is billed every 6 months, then put 16th of the bill into your monthly budget, so you can save up for the next billing cycle. Same for the other stuff. 