The best thing I ever did was open a second checking account and have my income split. All the money for my bills goes into one account and the money I spend on everything else goes in another account. I can now look at my "spending" account and easily guage if I can buy that shiny object. My bills get paid on time without ever thinking about them.
Of course you should also have a third account for savings. :)
The other option is doing the same with credit cards, though you'd have to work backwards with credit cards. Basically, have a groceries credit card, a dining out credit card, etc. If you look at the balance you can see you have $200 in dining purchases this month and you budget is $250, so you have another night out budgeted for the month.
