[throwaway22032]

Have an analogy.

Imagine you're lanky or fat and you want to build muscle and get in shape.

Saving is like going to the gym and lifting. You'll look and feel a ton better.

Putting together a budget is like going to the gym with a routine and maybe a rough diet plan. You'll get there faster.

Investing is optimising your routine so that you hit every muscle group once you're starting to plateau.

But it's all built on the basic mindset that you need to go to the gym. It's not optional, you just do it.

The main thing is to build the mindset of saving. You spend what you _need_ to, and perhaps a bit on top for fun. Money that comes in is saved by default.