<prompt> Human: There are alot of threads here on making a budget, but I was wondering if any of you would be willing to share HOW you keep to your budget. For instance, paycheck gets deposited on Day 1, then what do you do? Do you pay with credit cards to keep track of categories? Withdraw cash? etc  <response>: I hate to sound like a YNAB paid shill but if the YNAB people want to pay me, I will not object but their system. Its quite similar to the Dave Ramsey style mentioned belowthread, but is much more flexible. It allows you to use credit cards. It does take a bit of work, but Im liking it.In the process I use, I take a look at my YNAB budget after every paycheck. Im hourly, and get a decent amount of overtime, so every check is different. Once I get that deposit, I look at my bills. Specifically, what hasnt been paid for this month. Ideally, I should have those categories funded from income from last month, but life happens.Then I look at my necessary to live categories gas, groceries, etc. Do I have enough to last me until the next paycheck? Ideally, again, those categories should be prefunded from previous income. If I need more fuel or food, Ill toss a few bucks into the categories. Then I look at next month. I have bills due. Lets fund those now. So I figure out what my mandatory bills are, and push my income from the current month into the next month. Perhaps I can cover all bills for next month this paycheck? Its pretty sweet when that happens. Then I take a look at what nice to have categories I can put money into. Spending money, clothing, etc. Toss some cash here, cash there. Im also looking long term. Ill fund my roth contribution, vacation fund, and any big expenses Ill have coming. For example, I pay car insurance yearly saves 10. I know on october 10th, I need to make an XXX payment. So Ill categorize that, and as I get closer to the due date Ill pay attention and deposit more. Or, if I have some cash left over after budgeting, Ill toss the leftovers into a category like that.This works for me because Im pretty disciplined as it is financially, in every other way, lolno. This method lets me see where every dollar is going, and what its job is. Dont know if this helps at all, but It works for me. 