The basic budgeting formula given does not allow for debt repayments, my suggestion is to split the leftovers after your bills are paid, including credit card m

The basic budgeting formula given does not allow for debt repayments, my suggestion is to split the leftovers after your bills are paid, including credit card monthly minimums on the bills column, three ways. Save a third, pay off debt with a third, and spend the last third. Some people will suggest that paying off debt with two thirds is more advantageous due to the interest rate difference. However psychological effects of watching a savings balance grow are more powerful than the tiny monetary amount you recoup by paying off 20% interest debt twice as fast. You want your finances to be as much 'set and forget' as you can possibly get. I've switched to fixed payment amounts over paying off the balance every month on my regular card. So the spendy months are offset by the lean months. And my head can wrap itself better around the fixed $1400 I have going out rather than having to constantly check balances, not that that really stops me, lol. Occasionally you need cash, such as if you're saving for a down payment or want to quit your job. In this case you can drop all your monthly payments down to the minimum, let your credit and cash balances pile up. If your credit is good, then once the dust settles and you're back to normal you can get a fixed interest loan to cut down on the interest-rate pain. $6k in credit card debt costs about $200/month. Cutting that interest rate in half saves you a hundred bucks. You can't plan everything, and you can't always tame the little inner demon wanting you to spend more money. Some years are just spendy. Distinguish between capital spending, recurring spending, and incidental spending. It's the incidental stuff that will kill you if you don't rein it in. Don't worry too hard about capital purchases like buying furniture, buy good stuff so you don't have to replace it every few years and just pay it off. Don't worry about running up a few hundred bucks coming out of your account every month for Patreon donations or cloud services. Just run through your bank statements every six months or so and cancel stuff you don't use anymore. It's those incidentals that will kill you. I probably have $3k in debt for frivolous purchases over the last few years that I really should have been better about. Key here is to recognize the psychological need they're filling. I used to go to the bar a lot because I'd get bored. Nowadays I spend a lot less money comparatively on cheap tech toys and hobbies. Retail therapy can be cheap or it can wreck your long term goals. Start paying attention before it goes so far you're paying $500+/mo just to finance your previous life.