Are you ever caught at the end of the month wondering where all your hard earned money went? Nothing left for savings and a huge credit card bill to boot!? A budget or spending plan can help avoid this situation.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help manage your finances using a budget:

Start by listing the money you plan on getting during the month such as normal paychecks (for both you and your spouse) and anything extra.

List your monthly expenses, starting with the necessities like mortgage/rent, food, utilities and transportation. Then add in the other monthly expenses including long term savings, insurance, entertainment, debt repayment and personal spending.

Once your basic living expenses are taken care of – invest the rest. If your expenses exceed your income, you will either need to cut back or increase your income to make ends meet.

Use one of the following budgeting plans to help you manage your money:

Zero base budget - zero based budget is a method that has you earmark every dollar out of your paycheck for all things. For example, if you earn $2,500 a month, you spend or save exactly that amount.

Envelope system - the envelope system is a way to track how much money you have in each expense category. This is done on a monthly basis by putting the money you plan to spend on each expense category into envelopes.

50/30/20 budget - this budget plan uses the 50/30/20 rule to determine how much of your monthly income to spend on needs, wants and savings. Allocate 50% on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% to savings.

Be flexible with your budget.

Be sure to adjust your budget each month as things change. Initial spending projections do not always coincide with real life and your budget should be adjusted to reflect the variations. The best way to accommodate the ups and downs in monthly expenses is to have a savings category as part of your budget. This is where you can set aside funds to cover unforeseen expenses.

Budget apps are popular.

Software budgeting apps can help get your spending on track. These can range anywhere from manual spreadsheet templates to automated cloud based budgeting software. Some of the most popular apps are: Mint by Intuit, You Need a Budget (YNAB), Simplifi by Quicken, PocketGuard and Goodbudget. There are also pre-made spreadsheet templates published by Microsoft at Office.com and at Google in Google Sheets.

Keeping tabs on your money is a good first step to cutting back on spending and saving more. Try these different budgeting techniques and tools and see what works for you. Adjust your budget as you go and don’t wait for a normal month to get started – the time is now!