I like have 3 bank accounts, paycheck split between first 2...1. Bills, this should have the whole month worth of bills covered + 10 % for some variable stuff like electric or water. 2. Play money, this is whatever money I have left over after filling the bills account as needed. I can use this money for whatever I want as long as it covers the cost. I am lazy and want to order delivery, account 2. I want a new game to play, account 2. I want to go out to the movies account 2. As long as account 1 is not touched everything should be covered. The third account is savings. At the end of every month I empty account 1 and account 2 and put left over into account 3. You have an emergency, your car breaks down, your partner is breaks a bone, a large gang of monkeys break in and steal all your bananas.. Take the money for the expenses from account 3.You may need to adjust the date of transfer for your situation for example make sure there is the rent money in account 1 on the first, don't empty it out on the 31st. It requires some tuning for timing of transfers and percentage of over paying into the bills account for variations but generally works well for me.