I second Brad's recommendation of YNAB. I don't use it myself, but I gave it a good test and was quite impressed. I met the owner recently in Denver - super nice guy.

My YNAB review: http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/ynab-...u-need-budget/

In your case, you might have to just budget for your fixed expenses, add a buffer for variable stuff and then give yourself an allowance for the remainder and stick to it.

You have a high loan payment amount, so that it pretty good. But if that leaves you short every month then it might be defeating the purpose. Can you lower the loan amount a bit if that will help avoid needing the credit card?

I recently wrote an article about getting out of debt and wondered if it's worthwhile to really kill yourself to do it quickly. Might be of interest to you:

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/debt-free-now-what/