<prompt> Human: I take home roughly 900 bi-weekly and have 17k in student loan debt, 7k on a car and 0 in CC debt. I do not have a rent bill but somehow cant seem to have enough to put much away at the end of the month. Recently Ive set up a savings account that gets 85 direct deposited into it with every paycheck but still cant seem to keep any extra money in checking. I know the obvious answer will be I need a budget but Ive had difficulties doing so with a long distance girlfriend. Monthly expenses are drastically different from month to month depending on when we see each other. I plan on moving to her in a much more expensive cityarea next spring and need to start saving. Am I missing something here??  <response>: You can budget in a category for visits. My girlfriend and I did this for over a year. The most basic part of budgeting is understanding where your goes. And then you identify areas to cut back where you can. Good luck! 