We did the notebook thing, and then we did double entry ledgers, so there was a general ledger with ALL the ins and outs, and then separate tables for different categories - medical, bills, insurance, food, entertainment, etc. And then we did a budget every fortnight, to allocate how much we agreed we could spend on things - some were obviously static (eg: insurance, rates, train fares, etc) but others were tightened.

Actually seeing how much you spend on things might surprise you - food, clothes, beauty products, etc - which might help you save, if you're going to have to account for it all.

You might already be really frugal, but most everyone I've known has been surprised by going through this exercise with a fine toothed comb - we realised we were spending heaps more on entertainment than we thought - we only were going out once every few weeks, but we always spent more than we expected to, but justified it at the time. And books. I couldn't believe how much I accidentally spent on books.

One friend spent loads more on skin and haircare than she thought, and also couldn't believe how often there were the "just one" things - a new handbag, an updated coat, flowers for a sad friend, a teddy for her nephew, taking her parents out for their anniversary, a donation for a colleague's kid's fundraiser - all completely fine things in isolation, but they added up to literally hundreds of dollars every month, and she just had to start saying no to herself and others ...

And I was also shocked at how much food we actually had in the pantry! And how much fresh got wasted. So we've changed that too ...

So we wrote down every cent (every phone call in a pay phone, every fill up of petrol, etc) and so very many times in the first few weeks, I would actually decide NOT to grab something to eat on the way home (or whatever) because I didn't want to have to write it down, and justify it!!

Sounds a bit sad, or matyrish, but you know what? I was saving for something super, and super important.