I think this is the right response to the gp's budget item enumeration. People don't naturally pay the minimum for each necessary bill and never buy anything e

I think this is the right response to the gp's budget item enumeration. People don't naturally pay the minimum for each necessary bill and never buy anything else. They have a stream of money and tend to spend it on what they see their costs are now. Some adults are cognizant of future planning and are detailed with their budgets (past, present, and future), but I suspect most are too tired from working + raising kids to spend the extra mental effort to budget carefully and stick to it.