That’s the exact kind of problem I’ve been having. What changed me totally is a simple, free Excel spreadsheet. I was looking for something like this for a long time, and I found it at: http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/products/envelope-check-register/

I never did understand the purpose of all the budget sheets and helps I’ve seen that merely track what you have already spent. I wanted something to help me govern how much I WILL spend.

The neat thing about this spreadsheet is that you can’t simply enter your paycheck amount; you have to allocate every cent of it ahead of time into categories. With one glance, you can see how much money you have available for what purpose.

I found a way to adapt this to work with Google Docs, so I can use it anywhere I’m online with a computer.