My whole life has been on a budget. I can't imagine not having to scrimp and save, so I can't offer any 'transitioning' advice - but I can tell you that you will find free ways to entertain yourself.

Trapped a bit. I own a company that my employees rule. They rule of my choice. I'm fortunate enough to have some pretty smart cookies. I pay them accordingly. They actually make more than I. My lowest tender makes 18/hr. My top hazmat does 65/hr. At 18/hr...my boat bitch is both learning and making a good wage. He'll eventually get up there.

Everyone is on some kind of budget - a budget is simply the practice of spending within one's means. That is true whether you have only $500 a month to live on or 1 million. If you spend 1 million 500 you haven't stuck to your budget. In other words, everyone has a limit on how much they can spend on bills, wants, and needs.

To start off it is shit and you will hate it with a passion. This is followed by a few days of wallowing in the misery of it all and then you start to work out how to get the most from the money you have. Eg, sounds really dull but the grocery bill can be slashed without resorting to shit food. We don't use oil much and stopped with the olive oil and went back to vegetable. Stopped buying fruit that never get eaten and lives in the fridge until it goes in the bin, streamlined the SKY TV package because we never, ever watched any film channels ever since we got them all - grocery shopping now done with a list instead of just getting anything. Oh and we started cooking and making dinners which is not my favourite thing to do but I suffer it. Give it a couple of weeks and you may find that you still get the treats as before, the same ones just not as many - instead of 6 beers, husband now only gets 3 max. You get used to it pretty quick but that does not make it any easier when you feel like the poor arm of the peer group but again, it passes and is normal. In the end you realise that most people are financially about the same, some a bit better, some a bit worse but overall,there's not much to tell between you.

I actually feel like I am in more control of my life knowing exactly where my money is being spent. I have been dirt poor and I now live quite comfortably. But I have always budgeted.