For my projected budget I just set up a simple spread sheet in excel. I have all our income and all our 'out go'
projected for each month (because each month is a bit different, it's not cookie cutter at all!) and as I get bills and spend money each month, I just update it to make sure we're on track.
I do use Quicken as my check register, it has a budget feature but I don't like it, so I just use it to track our bank accounts, credit cards, and investments.
Here's a sample of my excel budget (all numbers are fake
). As you can see, to the right I have our Visa Card. We charge all of our expenses to the Visa and then pay in full at the end of the month. So I have a column for that with our estimated amounts for the month and then the total is included in our Bills column on the left. As the Visa total changes (i update the projected amount to the actual amount throughout the month), it updates the Visa line in the Bills column, that way we can instantly see how our day to day charges like gas and groceries affect our bottom line for the month. In the "Income" area I have a space for each week's paycheck (our pay can vary slightly as we are both hourly employees) a space for my reimbursment for my home office from my employer, and the left over money from the previous month. And in the column next to each bill, I just type in "paid" as each bill is paid so I know everything has been paid for on time.