I know what my take home pay is per month, and my monthly expenses. A simple subtraction leaves the amount of money left over per month. Then, divide by 31 days to determine your daily allowance. Round down to the nearest number to give yourself a bit of fudge room. I then collect every receipt and throw it away when I have taken it out of my budget. ATM visits come out instants, ignoring cash in hand. Once a month I remove all of my automatic deductions. Don’t forget that you’ll have many unexpected expenses that you have to calculate.

For example, you start at zero. On your first day you add your daily balance. Let’s say it’s $50. If throughout the first day you spend $20, you are now at $30, and your new number the next morning is $80. The next day you might have a $200 expense, so you would be negative, but at least you’d know it and spend less the next couple of days. It can be quite depressing to be below zero, but at least you know exactly where you stand every day.