Nothing special from my end. I already have an excel sheet that ballparks my income vs expenses, and estimated investment gains.
I'd suggest anyone who doesn't do this to do it.
Even the simplest thing like this monthly budget:
How much money you make every two pay stubs (net pay) per month = $5000 total net pay
List all your mandatory expenses = car loan, insurance, rent, utility bills, student loan etc......
List all your subjective expenses that can move up or down, or be completely zero sometimes = food bills, is it time to buy some new clothes etc..... But since this is a monthly budget, you got to do your best and ballpark the avg monthly amount
At the end of the month what do you have left? If you have a positive, great. If you're in the red, you're sinking.
Don't forget weird one-time expenses like: Xmas shopping bills might build up in Dec, annual trip, property taxes. Again, these things are usually one-time lump payments. So do your best and do a monthly split how much it is if it was spread out monthly
Conversely, don't forget to add the one-time annual bonus you might get if your job gives you one. Same as above, estimate a monthly amount. If I make an annual bonus of $10,000 per year in net pay. I would put that as $800 per month to income.... (assuming it's reasonable to assume its around that much every year)
As a bonus, you actually get 26 pay periods per year not 24 (2 times per month), so as a buffer the above math excludes two extra pay stubs. Which you can treat as rainy day funds. If you are really teeter tottering on breaking even doing a monthly budget, exclude these two extra pay stubs as your monthly income so it shakes out as a bonus. Just don't use it up when you get it. It seems often times an extra pay stub comes in June or July, and another in Nov.