I live within my means, but it's so hard with the situation of the economy and trying times such as sickness. It's even hard to save up and it's necessary to do so, incase of emergency. Even investment is an issue now, due to earns can't even keep up daily expenses talk more of investment. A budget should be made based on your monthly expenses and check if it will correspond with your earnings and if there is a little feedback, it should be saved for emergencies or investment.