Managing my budget...

My second question would be, what do you all put aside for "the unexpected" things like the washer goes *major expense* or "oh, shoot, we forgot so and so's birthday party" and you have to go out and get a quick gift?

Get a copy of Quickbooks.

And if you are having to resort to payday loans, skip the birthday parties.

Let me address your question about the washer first. Since that type of item is a big ticket item, you should be setting aside money each month to fund an emergency fund. You should establish a separate account for those funds and don't touch it unless you have an emergency such as the washer going out.

Second your budget should be able to shift a little throughout the month. If you are doing a zero based budget and all of your money is accounted for at the beginning of the month then you wouldn't have any money left over for the "forgotten birthday party." But if you go out and buy a present then you just have to remember to subtract that amount of money from one of your other categories such as "dining or entertainment"

Third, personally I don't think any fee is acceptable to pay a debt settlement company. Those companies don't do anything you couldn't do yourself. You should research the companies you owe and negotiate settlements yourself. The money you pay a "debt settlement" company could have been used to pay off your debts.

Concerning tracking your expenses, try some of these

1. Quickbooks
2. Quicken
3. mint.com
4. commoncentssoftware.com
5. Dave Ramsey has a budgeting system you can use through his website daveramsey.com
6. not sure about this one but i believe you can still buy Microsoft Money

Maybe that helps