Six steps, in the order that actually works.
If you read one page on this site, read this one. It is the whole method, with links to the detail where you need it.
1. Find your real numbers
Export 90 days of transactions from your bank and total them. Ninety days, because one month always lies — it misses the quarterly and annual charges. Put the totals into the Money Dashboard and it will show your real needs/wants/savings split in about five minutes.
2. Bank one month of essentials
Not six months. One. That single month is what stops the next flat tyre becoming a credit-card balance you carry for two years. Work out the number from essential spending, not income — the emergency fund guide shows the calculation.
3. Free up the surplus
The fastest money is not earned, it is stopped. A two-hour audit of recurring charges typically frees $80–$210 a month: 14 bills worth attacking, with the phone scripts that get the discount.
4. Kill the expensive debt
Anything above roughly 15% APR costs more than any saving or investment reliably returns. Pick a method — snowball or avalanche — and run your own balances through the payoff simulator in the dashboard.
5. Give the plan a shape you can keep
A budget is only useful if it is still running in month six. Start with 50/30/20, and switch to the adjusted split if your rent refuses to cooperate. If tracking bores you, automate the savings transfer and spend the rest guilt-free.
6. Separate the expected from the unexpected
Car servicing, insurance renewals and Christmas are not emergencies — they arrive on schedule. Give them their own sinking funds so the emergency fund stays for genuine surprises.