I hear people sometimes say “I will start saving when I start earning big”. The truth is saving or managing one's income is not dependent on how big the income is. It's an attitude one builds over time with discipline, if you can not save when the income is small, it's likely you can't save when it increases, because “a man is as big as his problem”.
Managing one's income has really been a crucial thing in one's personal life and family. One thing that is most neglected by many is that managing income has a lot to do with one's personality traits. There's someone who earns #50k per month and was able to have a monthly savings, while another who earns #200k couldn't save a dime. The difference is in their attitude towards money and income management.
I grew up with a mentality of “spend some, save some, no matter how little”. This concept has really helped me a lot. Before my earnings arrive, I already have a list of my needs for the month which includes my transport fare. A list of percentage of sharing which include; (this is pasted at the door of my wardrobe), a percentage for charity, loved ones, emergency, and for savings( which goes with an instruction of “to be withdrawn by 31st December”). I make it as a culture not to go beyond that list. It's a very difficult concept to practice but not impossible.
I'd rather suspend any expense that would warrant me not strictly following my budget for the month than not saving. As a human, sometimes, I might be tempted to indulge in impulse buying but my subconscious mind would remind me that this is not part of my budget for the month, and I would catch myself again. This is because if I deviate, it would affect my plan of investing with my savings.
This practice has really saved me from a lot of embarrassments that may result from emergency, because whether we like it or not there'll always be a time where some expenses we never bargained for may come up, that requires urgent attention, it could be personal, from family or friends, without proper planning ( emergency), you might be tempted to tamper with your savings which might not augur well in the end because of the purpose for which it was meant for.
To manage my income satisfactorily for my best interest, I have a list of percentage sharing of my monthly expenses based on my net earnings, which include savings, charity, loved ones, and plan for emergencies. I strictly follow this plan with all discipline so as not to disappoint myself at the end of the year. To be honest, no amount of income is ever enough, as our wants are insatiable. But through discipline and proper planning one could manage one's income correctly.
This is my response to the prompt by 
How do you manage your income?
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