i saw a financial counsellor. They ask to see your bills for last year.

They then do a breakdown.
52 weeks in a year
work it out to suit your pay cycle, so let's say you get paid each fortnight
so 26 fortnights in a year

annual bills (add 10% to last year's bill, to allow for inflation) - quarterly bills - work them all out to how much they are a fortnight.

then you know what you need to be "putting aside" each fortnight, for all those "known" bills

e.g the regular bills you get EVERY quarter, EVERY year.
plus an approximation, of the bills you get regularly, but you never know exaclty HOW MUCH they will be, like car service, dentist

for utilities, some companies let you "bank up" credit on your account
i do this with my gas and electricity, every fortnight, i pay an amount onto my account, so when the quarterly bill arrives, i am often in credit (only by a little).

so with money diverted, into prepaying accounts, and "save for the annual bills" - that means the money is NOT in my everyday account (where i might just spend it) - takes temptation away. I only let myself have access to the money that is left over, after i have done all my allocations. Doesn't leave me with much, but at least i know i can spend that money guilt free.

For day to day stuff, i take that out each week in cash.
Give myself a grocery allowance, a fruit n veg allowance, a petrol allowance and a spending allowance.
Once those amounts are gone, that is it.
i have gone back to this "cash" system, as i found it unsettling, to be buying food on EFTPOS, and never really know, how much i was spending (when i was IN the shop, wondering, if i could really afford to be buying X).

my X refused to budget with me, didn't see any point in it. he thought budgetting was only worth it, if you had money to invest. i feel the opposite, i feel the less money you have, the more crucial it is (to me) to know where every dollar is going. the less money, the more crucial the choices you make, how to spend that dollar.

the financial counsellors are good at getting you to discern between "wants and needs". but also realistic.

automating my new budget, has really destressed me. i know every fortnight, a huge chunk of my money "disappears", gets diverted from my everyday account, but it gives me peace of mind, knowing i won't be getting big bills (e.g rego), without any way to pay them, or they will be paid already (the electricity and gas).

with all the stuff in the news, about the carbon tax, everything going up, i have no idea if my new budget will still be making me calm, in a year's time - all i know is that it's working great for right now. a budget is always a work in progress. new priorities come up, nothing stays the same.

sorry to hear your hubby has had his hours cut back - that's a big adjustment.

Simply Savings is a good website for budget tips - to gain access to the Vault of tips, it's a paid subscription. Maybe your local library might have their "$21 Food Challenge Simply Savings" book, about feeding your family for a week, on the contents of your fridge/pantry and spending $21 at the supermarket. Even if you do it for one week out of four, that's one week you save heaps at the supermarket.

With tax rebate time coming up very soon, and Family Supplement - those amounts might help to provide you with a "buffer", for unexpected events, car needing exxy repairs, larger annual bills.

best of luck with the readjustment. it takes work.