As painful as it is to sit down and figure out your monthly expenses and even more painful to spend the time entering it into a Quicken spreadsheet, in the long run, you will be better off. If you can set up the program to pay your bills off the computer, eventually you will be saving yourself a lot of time althought the upfront time investment can be overwhelming! Here is a list of typical expenses that you will need to set up your household budget. It should help with estimating amoutns for savings and for spending on special trips or gifts.