I make each month a different worksheet.
What I do is break down my monthly income & expenses by pay period. Right now I am being paid weekly. So what I do is divide each of my monthly bills by 4 (avg 4 weeks per month) and I know exactly how much I need to sock away from each paycheck. By doing it this way there will always be 4 "extra" pay periods during the year. Usually once every 3 months. During these weeks I have a choice of what I want to do. For those bills such as the newspaper delivery that are pretty much billed weekly, I just put away the usual. The "left over" money I can either put towards my debt paydown or anything else I may need. 9 times out of 10 it goes right to my debt paydown.
My father taught me this way of budgeting years ago and it works for me. I have found it easier to divide my money up weekly so I know I will never be short at the end of the month. I have tried to do it montly but I had a hard time grasping it. This takes the "paycheck to paycheck" style of living to a new level. One day it will be used to watch how much $$$ I save on a weekly basis once I pay off the CC, car & student loan.
