I Should Be a Millionaire By Now

Twenty years ago, I got tired of doing the taxes and wondering where our money went.
I devised a budget system that hasn't let us down to this day. We have subtitles that cover every aspect of our spending and saving.
Examples are: Utilities, Home Ins., Auto Ins., Christmas, Vacation, Clothing, Hobbies, Home Improvement Minor (minor repairs, curtains, bed clothes, light bulbs, furniture etc.), Home Improvement Major (heater, a/c, roof, appliances, etc.), Auto repairs, New car savings (we buy cars cash, and begin saving for the next one immediately), Gasoline, Gifts (weddings, birthday's etc.) Food, IRA contributions, Spending cash, Real estate taxes, amongst other sectors.
We always see where the cash went. If one segment gets low, we can "steal" money from a segment that's more flush.
It makes it very easy to see where the money goes. When we paid off our mortgage, we put most of that monthly amount (we always prepaid and got out of it YEARS early.) into IRA's, some into vacations and the rest into hobbies.
We only use a credit card for online purchases, and pay it off monthly. (Those purchases are only made if there is money in that budget segment.)
We use our monthly take home pay and break it down from there. Necessities, such as insurances, utilities, real estate taxes, are figured first, and then what is left is broken down among the "elective" segments. Home Improvement being the most important.
Bottom line: We don't have to worry about having the money for an upcoming bill. The money is there.
It's all in a checking account. When the balance gets too big (mostly from saving for a new car and Home Improvement Major), we transfer some over to a low risk, short term mutual fund so that it earns more.

We have MUCH more money using this system. If I quit smoking (I never smoked), I would take the money I spent on it and put it in my "Hobby" segment. :)