Budgets are boring. Instead of mapping the small expenses, have these rules of thumb in your mind. If you are going consistently over these limits, you need a relook at where your money is going. Eating out, going to the movies, travelling and buying gadgets are the big budget breakers. Go for a balanced, rather than a hard, spending diet. Hard diets fail. You are doing OK if … you have a three-account system that separates your income, spending and savings; your spending on living costs is no more than 45–50 per cent of your take-home income; your EMI payouts are no more than 25–30 per cent
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