yeah, I know credit cards are a pretty fraught topic when it comes to personal finance. :)

I think it you take care of stuff twice a month/every time you get paid, that should be often enough to keep you up to date on paying things.

If tracking your spending is where you see things taking up more time than you have, maybe someone else will have better suggestions, but I've heard good things about the envelope budget method, if you don't mind working all in cash. That way, you wouldn't have to fuss with saving your receipts and whatnot.

I could also see it helping if you had an envelope for each budget category and put your receipts in that envelope at the time of purchase, so when you go to total everything up, it's already sorted and you just have to sit down for a few minutes with a calculator.

Downside: both of these methods do mean wandering around with a bunch of envelopes or one of those expanding file thingies that people use for coupons or something.

Good luck! Let us know if you come up with a method that works for you!