conversation: User (Phoenixfighter09): "Hello! I've always considered myself to be pretty good with money. I always know where every dime goes, however I know I can make some major changes. \n\nI moved to Calgary from Ottawa about 3 months ago. I saved up for the move, but not enough. Right now, I owe about $850 on my credit cards. This was mostly from buying furniture and kitchenware (This is my first time living out of home as well). \n\nI live with my boyfriend, who has a nest egg of about $20,000. Me? I have no savings. None. Right now, I blame the move, but it's my fault. My routine has always been save up, travel, save up, travel. However, now that I've moved from home, I want to start building savings and also an emergency fund. \n\nI bought a brand new car last year at about $26000. 6 years @ 0%, I'd like to have it paid off in 4 years total. My bi-weekly payment is $167. My reasoning for the brand new car was that I am planning on it lasting me 10-15 solid years if I take good care of it. I didn't want to risk buying an older car or a clunker and have issues with it down the road. I've heard too many horror stories from people buying used cars.\n\nMy expenses are about $1500/month total (rent, car, food, bills.) And I bring home about $2100/mo. I'm feeling lost, I need to get my credit cards paid off first of course. After that, I don't know where to go. I am clueless about investing and nervous. Do I just put what I can into savings and hope to build it gradually? I want to start really SAVING, not saving only to spend. \n\nMathematically, I should be able to save about $600/mo after the credit cards are paid off. Is this realistic? Where do I start?  \n\nPlease help. \n\nEdit: My breakdown of expenses are as follows (monthly):\n\nCar/Insurance: $514\nGas: $60\nRent: $640\nFood: $150\nInternet: $30\nPhone: $35\nEntertainment: $50\nPersonal: $30\n\nRoughly anyway...yes my car costs me too much. \n\nEdit 2: I should also mention that I do NOT want to give up travelling anytime soon. It is my passion. "
  Self: "Post up your breakdown of expenses.\n\nPay off your credit cards. Once you've done that, set up an auto-transfer to savings once a month of $500 or so. Try Smartypig. Establish you EF level ($4500-9000) and then do not touch it. Once you're done with that, you can save for something else you want, whether it's travel, retirement, or some other goal."
  User (Phoenixfighter09): "Updated with my breakdown.\n\nI like the idea of automatic transfers, that way I'll really have to budget around it. I also like the idea of doing cash budgets, especially on groceries. I feel like I may be off on what I'm actually spending on food per month."
  Self: "You certainly do spend too much on your car, but at this point I don't see a reasonable way around it. Don't pay extra on it - it's 0%, which means you lose nothing by paying off as little as possible. Meanwhile, you can use that money for paying off CCs and building your EF so that you don't need a CC again. You should check your rent and see if it is reasonable for your area. Based on your income, I'm guessing it is. \n\nOtherwise you seem decently frugal and I don't see a problem with anticipating $500-600/mo for your savings. You just need to establish the savings pattern for a while. Once you have the EF for some time, you won't want to be without it, and you'll get accustomed to it being there, unspent, like a security blanket."
  User (Phoenixfighter09): "I agree. The emergency fund is something I haven't honestly thought about before. Thanks to this subreddit, I will be making it a priority in the coming months. So thank you for the advice. "
  