The simple rules

Two thousand euros land in your account. The question isn't how much you earn, but what you do with it.

The most quoted rule comes down to three numbers: fifty, thirty, twenty.

Fifty percent for the essentials: rent, groceries, transport, bills. A thousand euros.

Thirty percent for what you enjoy. Six hundred euros, and it's not a punishment.

Twenty percent that leaves before everything else. Four hundred euros.

Over a year, those four hundred euros add up to four thousand eight hundred. Without any interest.

And then you pay your rent.

Eight hundred euros. By itself, it takes forty percent of everything coming in.

Two hundred euros are left for food, getting around and bills. For the whole month.

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The rule didn't lie. It was written for a lower rent than yours.

So we shift it: sixty, twenty, twenty. Twelve hundred, four hundred, four hundred.

Look at what didn't move: the part set aside is the only one you don't touch.

One question remains, and it doesn't depend on your city: when do you transfer those four hundred euros?

At month-end, you save what's left. On payday, you spend what's left.

That's not the same sentence. An automatic transfer, the day after your salary, and the question never comes back.

Twelve times a year. Four thousand eight hundred euros, without thinking about it once.

That's not discipline. That's order.

Two thousand come in. A euro that nobody gave a job to is already spent.

Rent eight hundred. Groceries three hundred. Transport fifty. Bills fifty.

Wants four hundred. Savings four hundred.

Total: two thousand. Left: zero.

A fair budget doesn't end with a surplus. It ends at zero, because everything got a name.

Next month, sixteen hundred. A client lost, sick leave, a bonus that doesn't come.

Needs don't move: twelve hundred.

What gets cut first, almost always, is savings. It's the only line that doesn't complain.

You should do the opposite. Wants go from four hundred down to a hundred.

And savings only drop by a hundred: down to three hundred.

Even reduced, it goes on. What matters is the habit, more than the amount.