<prompt> Human: Managing money is ridiculously easy. You have income and expenses. To save money, you either reduce your expenses, or find a way to increase your income. Thats literally it. But if you look at these budgets, they allot the same amount of money each month to the same category. To me, this is outlandish, because it makes a glaring assumption that people are robots and their lives never change. One budget I looked at, had one spending 100 a month on clothing. I dont even think I spend that much in a YEAR. You dont need a budget. Facing the difficulty of affording rent but have cable TV? Cut the cable and use Netflix. Eating out 3 times a week? Eat out 3 times a month. Ask for a raise, get a second job. These people that need to categorize everything to look at how much their spending amuses me. Also, if your income is very variable, as in being a freelance write, self employed, etc, then budgets are even worse. I know what I spend each time I pull out my wallet. If I think I cant afford it, I do not buy it. Its that simple.  <response>: a budget is a tool to track spending. THATs it. 