<prompt> Human: I am at my wits end. Please help! This is insane - its me, my wife and two kids, I make 131k a year and we cannot save a damn or maintain a budget no matter what we have tried. We are living paycheck to paycheck. I am reaching out here for help!Im not sure where to start but heres some basic budgetincome info...My net take home pay, every two weeks, is 3,352 this is what is actually deposited into my bank, and this is the amount AFTER our healthvisiondental401k contributionHSA contributiontaxesetc, so its what Ive been attempting to use as our budget base.Given that paycheck amount, every two weeks 26 times a year, divided by 12 is 7263 income per month. So here it goes... 7263Income -1,447Mortgage -41HOA Fee paid quarterly as 123.00 -109CableInternet109.00 -150Wireless -163Car Insurance -185Life Insurance -8.55Netflix -180Electric -100Water -55Lawn maintenance -320Auto Loan for Car 1 -287.04School loan 1 -40School loan 2 -100School loan 3 -800Credit Card 1 Payment 1 27000 balance -400Credit Card 2 1,400 balance -30Charity -480Car 1 gas -120Car 2 gas -700Groceries -50Haircuts -120 Tollroads daily commute for work each way 1887 remaining.. yet, its been 6 days since my last paycheck and as of right now theres only 40 left of it and the 500 of it I did transfer to savings I had to transfer back out in order for things to get paid... as of right now, our bank accounts total less than 700. What the hell is wrong with us? Thanks! EDIT - Im now EXTREMELY aware already was I guess but this is a nice affirmation our problem is budgeting. EDIT - Thank you all for the advice! Ive spoken with my wife and were going to save ALL receipts and track spending using YNAB. Well also both attend the YNAB training. I think well also start using cash instead of plastic. Any further advice on budgeting, especially using YNAB, would be helpful!And lastly well now budget with the correct amount of income per month I was averaging income over 12 months.. aka giving us 2.13 paychecks a month instead of 2.. as a few commenters pointed out my assumption for monthly income was off 10 out of 12 months a year by a significant amount which unknowingly caused us a lot of headaches when I compared inoutflows to our budget spreadsheet.And NO we are not using credit cards anymore and havent been for the last 5 months.  <response>: First of all, ignore the people making disparaging remarks. Not knowing where your money goes is a problem whether youre making 30k or 130k. Theres no need to be a jerk about it.Second, you should use YNAB, for two reasons. One is that it helps you budget your monthly expenditures, but more importantly, its a check register for the modern age. Back in the day when people wrote paper checks, they had a check register they used to record every debit and credit. It was immensely useful, because you watched your money come and go and go and go and go on a daily basis as you spent it.YNAB mobile has this neat feature where you enter an expense in a category, then it shows you how much you have left in your budget for that category. Its cool, and its fascinating if a little disheartening to watch just how quickly that budgeted money gets spent.A couple tips specific to your situation, once you get into YNAB:1. Car insurance is a commodity. Put insurers against each other. Use SelectQuote. Show no loyalty. If youve been with your insurer for 5 years, youre likely overpaying. Also, once youre YNABing, you can save money by paying your whole premium up front instead of being on a payment plan.2. Use to calculate how quickly you can pay down the credit card debt. Once youve been paying on it for 1 year and your balance has dropped a lot, call them up again and negotiate the rate. Keep doing this every few months. Eventually, as the balance drops, your credit will probably improve and you will be in a better negotiating position andor youll be able to open a lower interest card and transfer the remaining balance to pay off quicker.3. Join a credit union if you can find one youre eligible for. They have lower fees and are more likely to work with people who have less than perfect credit.Bottom line: theres nothing wrong with you. You dont know where your money is going, thats all. With a debit card and a reliable paycheck, its easy to just ignore what youre buying here and now, and to let it all get away from you. Very easy. Start planning in advance how you will spend every dollar you make, and more importantly, record every transaction as it happens so you can feel the impact of each expenditure.One last thing: if your wife is not 100 on board with YNAB, then it will cause marital strife. Register for their nine-day E-mail class and make her do the same. You need to be in this together or it wont work. 