I agree with you completely, the hardest thing is often discipline. By nature, I don't like to spend, but sometimes when I go out I want to please others.

It happens very rarely, so I know it's no big deal. And often I can afford it because I spend very little outside these outings. But I have friends who go out a lot and spend much more than they should.

They have no security fund.

As for me, my goal is to have 1 year's salary as a security fund. I'm a freelancer, so my income isn't stable and I need to be able to keep myself fed when I can't find freelance work.

I usually save 70% of my earnings. Which is a lot. But over the course of a year, it doesn't amount to much because, in fact, I often use these savings to buy big things. For example, for my new plot of land.

I'm not going to go into detail about my strategies here, I'd have to do a whole series of articles to explain them properly. But to come back to what you're saying: budgeting is the most important thing to start on the road to financial independence