<prompt> Human: I finally sat down and looked at my income vs bills and expenses. Ive been free-wheeling for far too long and having to dip into my now dwindling savings every single month. Last month, I spent 1100 more than what I brought in. Considering my base salary is around 90k, Thats ridiculous. No more. Ive worked up a budget based on my bills over the next three paychecks and Im going to be using the envelope system to help me get a better handle on staying in a budget. My bills are pretty high, around 3k per month. But if I stick to my budget, I should be able to save around 5 to 600 per month. My plan is to get my savings to the 3 month emergency fund level, and then start paying off credit cards. Also, in march, I should be receiving a bonus that will be probably be around 9k after taxes. Previously, Ive socked that away in savings to chip away at through the year as I overshoot my monthly take home. This time, goodbye credit card debt, because my cashflow will be net positive each month if I stick to my budget. Anyway, its really empowering to sit down and figure all this out and know that with a little planning and a little discipline, I can take control of my finances. Thanks to this sub for the inspiration and the tips. I just needed to tell someone. Thanks for reading. EDIT: 4406 in income each month. 3340 in bills each month. Leaving me 1066 for food, gas, clothes, household goods, etc. I buy most of the food for me and my fiance. How much should I realistically be saving?Assistant: How much interest are you paying in credit card debt? I would recommend saving less on the EF fund and more on the debt.Human: Thats probably a good point. Im down to about half a month of salary in my savings currently though and Id feel a lot better with a least a month or two in there.  <response>: Id look at this way: Scenario 1: you pay off say 10,000 of CC debt over the next 3 months and then an emergency happens so you put 10,000 back on CC - you end up with the same amount of debt EF but you saved lots of money through interest payments over the 3 months.Scenario 2: you save 10,000 in an emergency fund over the next 3 months and then an emergency happens so you spend the 10,000 you end up with the same amount of debt EF but and you earned like 0.05 on the interest of the 10,000 over those 3 months. 