<prompt> Human: Another Im graduating soon question.Im married and about to finish grad school. Our combined income will be 70k, minimum we do not have jobs set up but two 35k jobs is very realistic for college grads with decent experience in Seattle. No credit card debt, about 29k in student loans 22k for me and 7k for her. Im thinking:Rent:1300Phones and internet: 150Transportation bus and zip-car: 200Student loans: 500Entertainment: 1000Groceries: 300Utilities: 80 utilities are very cheap in SeattleClothes: 200 Charity: Im giving a toy to a toy drive tonight so 15 a yearUnexpected healthcare is what savings are for and a gym would be indluded in rentBy my calculations that leaves us with 870 to pay off student loans faster and build a savings fund.Edit: Added groceries, utilities, clothesPS remember I said it would be MINIMUM 70k. We will be shooting for more like 90k with about the same budget me with a masters and experience 50k, her 40k is very realistic but Id rather have too much money for my budget than not enough.Assistant: Your entertainment is ridiculous. Knock that way down and get rid of your debts.Human: The 1000 includes vacations, concerts, football and baseball tickets, and costs of playing in a band obviously a necessity in Seattle.Assistant: Still crazy high IMO. Youd have to be going to big events everyone weekend evening to hit 1000. And how many vacations will you really be taking? Those shouldnt be your priority--your debt savings should be. If you really want, plan one vacation for the future, set up a separate savings account and put a little money in it each month. Also, will you really be spending 200 a month on clothes alone?Human: Seriously though, I want to get out of debt as fast as possible, while still having fun. As long as I work toward no debt, I establish an emergency fund, and assuming I contribute max toward retirement, what else do I have to save for?  <response>: I dont think your paycheck is going to go as far as you think it is. You can probably expect around 4500-5000 a month, after taxes but before anything else. After your rent, entertainment and loan payments, youre already down to 2000 or less, depending on how much youre having taken out for taxes. By the time you add in the other parts of your budget and account for the little things, youll be left with less than around 800-1000 that all of your savings - retirement, emergency fund, any goals like a house or kids- needs to come out of. Another point that I didnt see mentioned is that its much easier to increase your spending than to decrease it. If you start out when you graduate with a 500 entertainment budget and find that it is just too low, its fairly easy to adjust your budget up, if you have the money. If you get used to spending 1000month on entertainment and later decide you need to cut back, its going to be far more difficult. 