<prompt> Human: I want to save as much money as I can in 2013. I dont have any idea of where to start with my budget. Do I spend 20 a month on food or 200. I dont want to set unrealistic goals then when I dont make it get frustrated and give up. I just got the mint app for my phone. Any advice?  <response>: Spend a few months tracking your spending. That will give you a good start for budgeting. You want to have this in place before you commit to anything big living place, car, etc. That way, you know how recurring payments fit into your budget.Why both of these? You said it perfectly: I dont want to set unrealistic goals then when I dont make it get frustrated and give up.So... figure out what you spend on an average month. Then look and see if its reasonable, and where you can cut things out -- or where you can spend more lavishly, depending. In short, start your budget at where it is, and adjust it to where you want it to be. If you track everything, you might find there are regular expenses you dont want that seem little at the time the common example is a daily Starbucks. I like the Gentlemans Latte as much as the next guy, but Im not spending that every day.---As for general advice: categorize every expenditure into need anything where not doing this is problematic; minimum debt payments, rent, food, etc, wants things you can do without, but that make life more enjoyable; cable tv, video games, sports tickets, etc; things you can cut in an emergency and savings 401k contributions, IRA contributions, debt repayments beyond minimums, emergency fund contributions, etc. Strive for the needs to occupy no more than 50 of your budget. This will help you in an emergency and will help you determine what you can really afford in that department some people think high income expensive car; the math usually doesnt work out. If you can do this, and save including debt repayments at least 20 of your take-home, youll be able to have quite a bit of luxuryentertainment spending while still securing your future and being safe for a rainy day. 