<prompt> Human: So I feel like Im in an odd situation, but Im not sure that I am. Im young, working as a programmer in a city and trying to be reasonably responsible with my money. A part of this is budgeting, at least at a macro scale, between student loans, savings, etc. When I get a paycheck, I will immediately set aside half of rent, and a chunk for savings. I also factor in student loans for the month, and set aside a portion for that. With my remaining cash, Ill loosely estimate what I have to spend on a day to day basis for food, travel, etc. to basically end up with 0 in checking by the next pay period.Im saving 1,200 a month until my E fund is filled out, after which Ill transition about 1k of that to loans on top of my minimums which I pay now. The problem is that I sort of feel like a failure towards the end of the month when Ill be scrounging to make the last 50 in checking last until the next paycheck.Is this loose methodology acceptable? Is my emotional reaction unnecessary? I ask because I misbudgeted this pay period and overdrew checking. Seeing that 0.00 in checking threw me off because I dont feel like I should be in a position where I dont have money, considering I make a very nice salary for someone my age. Im wondering if Im actually doing something wrong, or if its just because Im trying to save so quickly and its not a conventional savingsloan payment strategy.What do the pros think? I appreciate any feedback and help :EDIT: Im sorry I misused the phrase living paycheck to paycheck, thank you for calling that out. I apologize for giving off the vibe that I was complaining about the situation. I am mostly curious as to whether or not this is a reasonable strategy since I have no idea how its normally handled. Again, apologies if Ive offended anyone :  <response>: If you are saving 1.2kmonth - and that money does actually stay in savings - then you are not living paycheck to paycheck. 