<prompt> Human: We are currently pregnant with our first child and both want to have more of in savingsget out of debt with the IRScredit cards and try to be more fiscally responsible. Any advice would be so appreciated! Husband currently makes 3600 per month AFTER taxes and insurance are taken out. I make 4k per month as a 1099 contractor so this is before taxes. Currently, we have 3600 in savings just bought a house in Nov which depleted quite a bit, 2500 in checking he will get 1800 on Thurs and I should get 1k on Fri. Here are our MONTHLY expenses:1750 mortgage250 electric on average120 water400 my car350 his car220 car insurance180 cableinternet200 for our 2 cell phones300 per month to IRS previous debt, not towards this year20 per month in subscriptions NetflixDollar Shave club750 on groceries250 for his gas and eating out for lunch I work from home and only drive my car for errandseat lunch at homeCredit Cards:He has a 15k credit card with 2500 balanceI have a 2500 credit card with a 2300 balanceOther notes: We will owe 2k in the next 4-6 weeks to pay for our childbirth at the hospital this was our estimate after insurancemy pay is not 100 reliable on time, I sometimes go 2-3 weeks without pay and then get a lump sum, or sometimes it comes every week. I admittedly need to work on my spending--being home all the time I do a lot of online shopping and go shopping a lot on the weekends if youre wondering where lots of our extra money goes...We go out to dinner quite a bit, especially recently as Im very pregnant and have been too lazy to cookI am currently 7k in debt to the IRS due to when I was young and stupid and didnt understand the implications of being a 1099 contractor. I currently pay 300 per month auto-pay on this debt and do not contribute to the current year taxes IE when we file in April I will have to tack on a few more thousand to the debt, but we will put his whole refund towards it...about 3500.Also, not that its an excuse, but I was raised in a family where my dad worked and handled the finances and my mom was stay-at-home. My sisters and I were taught it was vulgar to discuss money and I never learned any type of budgeting or saving. My poor husband is a saver and never spends a cent except on lunchesgasthe occasional video game.PLEASE HELP! It would greatly improve our marriage if we could have more in savings and feel more secure. Also, the IRS debt is a huge stress on us. Thank you in advance!Assistant: Theres a couple big things Im seeing here:1. Youre budgeting for 4790 dollars per month, with a take home of around 7600 - where is that other 3000 dollars going? You need to spend a month or two and figure out exactly where all the dollars are going.2. A couple of your budget line items are a bit out of whack in terms of value - starting with the grocery budget. You said youre eating out a lot, is that coming out of that budget or the 3000 discussed above? Does that grocery money go to waste or is it used properly? Are you able to shave down this number? My girlfriend and I eat WELL on 400month CAN - something around 250-300 a month American. If you can learn to both contribute to the cooking, you will save a significant amount of money per month.3. You are not allocating anything towards any investments ie. retirement, childs education - this needs to change and should come out of the 3000 discussed in point 1.4. Both car payments are a significant sum. Are you underwater on both? Can you sell one yours, perhaps and either live with one vehicle, or purchase a modest, used family vehicle and net a lump sum?5. Youll have to get your shopping spending under control. Identify what it is that attracts you, and set aside a line item in your budget for that thing. Put a set amount in for clothes, houseware, etc. and dont spend outside that budget - if youre not investing in your future, it wont be there for you when you want it. Consider the value these goods bring to your life and consider how much something like retirement or paying for your childs future would bring you. This is more of an rrelationships point, but you said your husband is a saver and doesnt spend extra outside of a few things - is it fair that essentially his portion of income goes all of what you BOTH need, but your potion goes to what YOU want?6. You are not listing any minimum payments on your credit card balance - are you making these payments, and how much are they?7. Those are the BIG things - a couple other more minor things I noticed that can add up: 200 for cell phones is a lot, perhaps cut down data usage and drop to a cheaper plan? Cutting cable will save a lot, and if youre using Netflix and playing video games, perhaps its a luxury you should cut for now?8. One final thing, your savings is nowhere near where it needs to be. You do not have even a single month of expenses in there. You need to consider what might happen if one or both of you were to lose your jobs. You should ideally have a full six months expenses at your current rate, which can turn into 9-12 months on a slimmed down necessities-only budget that would occur if that did happen.Human: Thank you so much for the advice! You are correct in assuming that most of our bills are paid by my husband and most of my money goes towards fun.Im going to sit down with him to discuss cutting down on our cell phones, cable and groceries. Groceries are a big problem for me. Ill spend 200 on Sunday for the week, but then be too lazy or tired to cook and we end up having to throw food away, which is horrible I know.For our credit cards, we both always make the payments but they are sporadic-like some months he will just pay 1000 off or I will pay 400 off, and the next month well only pay 50 each.Also, Ill admit my spending is a bit out of control. I can easily spend 500 in a weekend at TargetAmazon, and we probably spend another 100 per weekend on our date night at our favorite upscale sushi place. Basically we are irresponsible. I am embarrassed to say I dont know how to budget. If I set aside 100 per week on groceries what is stopping me from spending 150? I guess I should pay with cash, so there is no way to go over?Also, his car is a lease and my car we own or will own...still owe about 9k on it.  <response>: If I set aside 100 per week on groceries what is stopping me from spending 150?Self control. 