[Fizgig]

Budgeting in savings has been a tremendous help to me. Track your spending for a month. (Every penny!) Break it into categories and set your ideal amounts.

I added up my monthly bills and reasonable, but low amounts to spend on everything else like entertainment. I subtracted the total from my monthly income and set up the surplus to automatically transfer to a savings account with each paycheck. It seemed like it should really hurt to keep my spending that low and have money siphoned from my checking account, but it didn't hurt at all.

You say that you're paying off debt, so I suggest still having money transferred automatically, but then use that money to pay what you owe.

Don't get too stressed out about categories - the goal is to keep the total spending as low as possible as you pay off your debt, and then later so you can save money.