<prompt> Human: At the beginning of the year, I set myself up for a pretty tight budget in order to save money for my future people keep telling me thats important so Im trying. I did pretty good in January and stayed on track, but I let myself go a little in February. Ended up spending a lot more money on some frivolous and not-so-frivolous things: 65 on video games, 50 on household cleaning supplies, 75 on dance lessons Valentines Day gift, 50 on some boxed wines and food to entertain guests, 75 on eating out, etc. In other words I totally blew my budget to crap in order to live a little. So my question is, how do you maintain a tight budget without becoming a reclusive hermit in the name of saving money for that all important safety-net I keep hearing people talk about?This is how Im stretching my take home pay:BILLS:1,175 - Rent560 - Savings235 - Car Payment100 - Car Insurance 80 - Utilities70 - Subscriptions Netflix, MoviePass, Adobe50 Phone Bill50 Internet ADDL:200 - Food150 - Gas100 - Misc. Everything else. Including household stuff, beers, clothes, fun, etc.  <response>: Plenty of people consider monthly expenses when budgeting, but one of the most important concepts is to embrace your true expenses Make a list of your non-monthly expenses and budget for them accordingly. For example, if your mothers birthday is in October and you want to spend 50 on her, start saving in March 6.25 per month. Do the same thing for Valentines Day 9.10 per month and in February you will have 100 ready to go.Apply this rule to nearly everything you should have many non-monthly categories and it will do wonders for your budget. Some of my Rule Two categories are Amazon Prime, Car Maintenance, Christmas, Costco Membership, Dentist, Thanksgiving travel and Veterinary. 