<prompt> Human: Im working a lot more and only get paionce every month. Last month I had a financial relapse and went from 600 to 3 in a couple of weeks. Most of it was spent on bills, but the rest of it was unnecessary lavish things like dates and eating out. Im a student I dont trust myself with these largefor me at least amounts of money; at least not until I learn more self control. I was thinking of some kind of weekly allowance for myself, so when I run out of money thats that. But I still want to have the rest available in case of emergencies.Free checking accounts with free transfers? Any tips?  <response>: Wow, the responses are pretty harsh considering youve acknowledged what the issue is and are looking for a solution to implement yourself. I dont think its that unreasonable to set up some systems that will help keep you on track.So, what no one has said explicitly yet is that you need a budget! Theres also a budgeting program called You Need a Budget but thats not necessarily what Im talking about.Have you ever used a budget before? This is your guide for what you can spend your money on. Putting it down on paper or screen will do a lot to make you aware of whats going on with your money, and thats the first step.Step 1: Create a monthly budget that accounts for your monthly income and all of your expected expenses. This includes regular and irregular bills, as well as food I recommend different categories for groceries and eating out, personal items, dates, car-related expenses, etc. See the sidebar for examples. Step 2: Dont spend more than your budget allows. If you absolutely cannot avoid going over budget in one category, you have to reduce your spending allocation in a different category. Keep track of all your spending and compare it to your budget to make sure youre on track. If your friend asks you if you want to go see a movie, check your budget to see how much money you have in your entertainment category before you say yes.Step 3: Adjust as needed. Budgets are often a work in progress. Dont get discouraged if you dont get it exactly right the first month.So, as soon as you get your paycheck, set aside money for ALL of that months bills or fractions of the amount youll owe on upcoming irregular bills and then divide the remainder of your income up for your discretionary spending.If you think a monthly budget is too difficult to maintain, break it up into weeks keeping in mind that there are different numbers of weeks depending on the month. But the idea is that if youre out of money for that week, thats it, no more spending. The first time you go hungry for the weekend because you blew too much money on beer earlier in the week, youll get serious about watching where your money goes. The most important thing is to pay all your bills on time. If necessary, create a separate checking account for your bills money and dont touch it except to pay bills. But you need to be realistic. You cant budget 50 a month on food and expect your budget to work. If you have enough money for a little bit of entertainment, then budget for it. If it makes sense to budget 50mo on entertainment and dates, then spend up to 50 and dont feel guilty about it. But you wont have any excuses for spending 300. You cant say Oh, I can afford it because I have 600 in my checking account because thats irrelevant to your budget. Your budget, not your bank balance, determines what you can afford. Some people also prefer cash envelope budgeting. At the beginning of each week or month, take out the amount of cash youre letting yourself spend on entertainment, food, living expenses, etc. Divide that cash into envelopes for each category. Youre allowed to spend what you have in your envelopes. When you run out of money in an envelope, youre done spending in that category unless you borrow money from another envelope, but then you have less to spend on that thing. Be careful not to run out of money on the important things!. Go read this. Its free to download the ebook and take the classes. Itll help get you thinking about budgeting in a way that will be helpful to you. Hope that helps. Good luck. 