Thanks for your responses everyone! I'm not sure if this makes sense, but to me, using the debit card does not equate to using real money. I know that sounds ridiculous, but if I use cash I am MUCH more careful! And any money left over at the end of the month goes into the Disney Fund!!
Yes it makes perfect sense. It's always easier to swipe then to hand over cash. Nothing leaves your hand when you swipe. I've been using the "envelope" system for a LONG time. I use the cash envelope system only for groceries and mine and DH's personal weekly allowance. The rest I use electronically on a spreadsheet. I have "e-envelopes" on a spreadsheet and each pay period I put every single penny somewhere into one of the categories or e-envelopes. Some of our e envelopes, to give you ideas since you asked are: car payment, school & sports (we have 3 school aged kids all in sports, this covers new gear, playing fees, class pictures...), power/gas, cable, hair care, orthodontist, garbage, sewer, water, entertainment.
Yes it might seem like a like of categories, but it helps so much.
To give you an idea, our power company is call Avista. Each month I electronically stick $200 from our first paycheck (we only get paid twice a month) into the Avista e-envelope. Our last bill was actually $244, but it will start to come down now through the summer months. During the summer I tend to pay about $80-120 a month. So I averaged our bills for the last couple of years and it is about $180 over 12 months. (higher in the winter, lower in the summer), but since I put $200 in a month, I have a nice little cushion in the Avista e envelope. I have on several occasions taken the cushions from a category to fund a trip, leaving extra in that particular e envelope of course, I won't ever bleed it dry.
Anyways, that is how I do our personal budget each month and have been doing it that way for many many years. It works for me.