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I do my budgeting on paper, but you do this in Excel too. I have one page in a ledger book per pay check. I have an estimate of what I'll make (mine is the same always since I'm salaried, get a set amount of child support, etc). Then I have my fixed bills which I budget out between pay checks based on due dates. I have a column for what the payment is expected to be, a column for what it actually is and a column to mark when I've paid it. With the remainder, I figure out how much I need for gas, how much for groceries, any special things due (kids field trips, birthdays, etc), dog food/supplies, etc. I itemize each of these. Then I know what I have left to work with. Since I get paid 26 times a year and my monthly budget takes two paychecks, I get two extra pay checks a year. I have the basic bills written out for months in advance so that I remember that the month the car insurance is due, I won't be buying anything extra for the house, kids, etc.
I have found numerous little ways to save money. I make my grocery lists from the grocery ads and plan menus around the sales. I use coupons. I buy more and more generic products all the time (most of the store brands are really good!). I take my lunch and diet pepsis to work every day (saves me about $8 a day, $40 a week, over $120 a month!)
Before I had kids and didn't have to plan quite as much, I used to take out a set amount per pay and divide it into envelopes which I kept in my purse. There was an entertainment envelope, a gas envelope, a grocery envelope and then the miscellaneous cash was in my wallet. If there wasn't money in the appropriate envelope, I couldn't buy it, period!
Dee
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