<prompt> Human: Ive been on my own for the past 4 years and have nothing to show for it. Here is my situation:My fiance and I work for a nursing home. He makes 10.50hr before tax will be 11 shortly working 35-45hrswk and I make 9hr before tax working 30hrswk. He will be going back to school in the fall to get a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant so he will be cutting his hours a bit, and I am working on developing a career as a freelance professional photographer which takes up a good deal of my time. We have 7,000 of student loans and a whopping 180 in savings that will likely be even less by the end of this month. Here are our current expenses:Rent: 670Utilities: 80Tithe: 10 of incomeCar Insurance: 95Health Insurance: 52 my fiancesLoans: 85Internet: 35Groceries: 200Gas: 80The rest cell phone, netflix, my health insurance are still covered by our parents and Im really starting to feel too old to not be fully financially independent.So, on average, by the time all is said and done we usually end up with a small chunk of change that is needed elsewhere like fixing the car, medical bills, birthdays- all the little things that you dont think about until they pop up. On average we barely break even each month and have no money left to put in to savings, pay our loans, or do anything with really. And beyond that, itd be nice to have fun once in a while and not feel like we have to hold on to every dollar for dear life. What am I doing wrong? Do we just need higher paying jobs? Move back in with the folks dear Lord, dont make that the case? I just feel like were getting no where.Edit: I really want to take a minute to thank everyone for their willingness to help us in our situation and provide some much needed insight on where to go next. I think most of this stuff was common sense, but sometimes we need someone to back us up and help us make that move in the right direction. At this point, its clear that I need a change in career. Especially with my fiance going back to school, I want to be able to provide him the security he needs if he ends up needing to work less to focus on school. I want to clarify that my photography life is not my main career, but just something Im doing to plan for a future of raising our children as my primary responsibility, but also having a bit of extra income to contribute. Im not sure what Ill do next as a career, but I know it needs to be real money and no more of the 9 or less that Ive been getting. Ive also received some great resources on how to track my spending habits and I will spend the next few days trying out all these apps and sites you guys have mentioned to see which will work best for me. A few people mentioned that I should go through May without adjusting my spending habits and then do a big review at the end of the month to see where I can improve. Thats something Ive been meaning to do for a while and its clear that Im not going to get anywhere until I do that. So that will be a big step. Another person mentioned opening up dual checking accounts and a single savings account to help manage my spending better. I think this is an interesting idea that warrants further discussion and I think it could be really beneficial!Finally, I want to thank everyone for being respectful on my stance with the tithing. You might think of it like black licorice. A few people really love it, but most people just dont get it. And thats okay! But I appreciate your concerns and willingness to listen to my side of things. Thanks for all the wonderful advice! Id been meaning to post this for a while, but was feeling insecure about my lack of knowledge with all this stuff so I really appreciate everyone taking time out of their day to help someone they dont even know. You guys are the best :Assistant: Youve laid out 1.5k in expenses vs 2.2k in monthly take home.So something like 30 of your income is going somewhere that you dont understand. Fix that and you probably fix your budgeting problem Human: Thats what I think too, but like I mentioned its all going to random things like having to fix the car one month, or surprise medical expenses or something else. There are times when I can put that 30 straight to savings, but then there are months when I basically undo it all by having unforeseen expenses. I first thought maybe Im just an impulse buyer and Im buying things here and there that I just dont think about, but after going over my bank statements I really only spend maybe 50 a month on incidentals.Assistant: Have you actually tracked every cent youve spent throughout a month? If not, that is the very first step to getting the budget under control.Human: I really dont track as well as I could and a lot of that comes from not really knowing what Im doing. I guess I feel like things that are common sense for most people i.e. how to set a budget and track spending become an absolute mess for me. I am really struggling to stay organized and on top of everything.  <response>: a lot of that comes from not really knowing what Im doingDid you spend money? Write it down and categorize it. 