How many times have you spent money, got broke then regretted it or wondered how you made some financial decision? The fact is, having a disciplined approach to managing money is much more than just a wish list.
In my book, the first rule to any financial literacy is having income then understanding your numbers appropriately. This is where the budget comes in. As an individual, I know a lot of us wing it especially when it comes to money matters. Carefully understanding the direction of your expense, which thing takes a chunk and the likes can help you to develop better financial understanding and make better decisions with money.
Impulsive spending is really a strain on true financial discipline, a good budget design is a big excuse to avoid unnecessary expenses. You could easily sprinkle, oh sorry, that is not on my budget when someone attempts to guilt-trip you to make some unplanned expense.
I have attached a simple Google Sheet Budget Template to improve your finance and get started. (To change the currency, select the numbers, go to format > select number > select Naira. Wishing you a great week ahead.
Beyond budgeting, tracking what we eventually spend our money on can really help. I make budgets all the time, but like you said, impulsive spending is a real killer. Also, having an emergency fund and clearly stating what an emergency is can really go a long way.
And thanks for sharing the Google sheet template.