Sounds like a plan, Red / Moguls. The bottom line in all of this seems to be to do whatever works for you and do it consistently. We use the monthly checking account statements that we get from our credit union to watch what happened, when, and how much. Not that we do it with a SS or Quicken but it is useful to review this info from time to time.
It's especially helpful that we get "e-statements" online rather than on paper. This makes reviewing, searching, and cataloging them very easy. We do the same with our brokerage account statements which are also online.
While we both have credit cards and a "house account" credit card, we don't abuse credit and with only 2-3 exceptions that I can recall over the past 34 years, pay the bills off every month. Another quote that I have found very useful is "We can't borrow a better standard of living". How true, how true. When we borrow, our banker acquires a better standard of living while we acquire a bunch of debt. :-/
A lot of this is a throw-back to my raising. My Mom is a real sweetheart who grew up during the 1930s when times were really tough. Her family lost pretty much everything and had to live hand to mouth for a number of years. This awful experience caused her to become the person that she is... extremely frugal, hard working, and absolutely terrified of poverty. She taught me a great deal about earning and managing money. Unlike my older Sis and younger Bro, I LISTENED to what she had to say because I knew that she had "been there and done that" in terms of financial and personal survival. Because of this, I always worked, always saved, and always had money in my pocket. I even started my own bank and loaned money out to other kids and charged them interest. Lawn mowing, a paper route, and various odd jobs added to the pot. Unlike Mom, I never lived through terrible economic times but I have taken her hard learned lessons to heart. This caused me to create my Three Rules for Financial Success: 1) work hard... all bosses appreciate this in an employee and when times get tough (and they will), they know who will get the job done and retain those employes; 2) save religiously... no matter how little it is, ALWAYS save something towards improving your future; and 3) invest wisely... diversify your holdings and invest mostly in things that accumulate value over time rather than in things that depreciate. I'd much rather buy GM stock, for example, than a new GM car. Yes, I need to buy a car from time to time but rarely ever keep one for less than 10 years. This allows me to amortize the cost of the car over a longer period of time and I take very good care of my cars so that they last a while.
I'm sure that the folks in this group can add lots of good ideas to this short list. Please do, as we can all learn and improve our money management skills when we listen to the experiences of others.
Ed_B