I have a general framework (done up in Excel) of what our monthly expenditures are, but I just use it as a reference, mainly. I list all monthly expenses, plus savings and extra debt paydown, then I have three totals;
1) bare minimum - monthly amount required to stay afloat
2) comfort point - amount required to live the way we want to
3) retirement - what we'd need in retirement, ie. no mortgage, savings, etc
This keeps me focussed on how much money we need to generate monthly, and gives us a 'big picture' view to help with decisions like how much we want to work, how to manage family, etc.
Below that in my sheet, I have a cash flow forecast. This is done just like I would with a business (I'm an accountant), I lay out all weekly cash in and outflows, rolling three months forward.
We charge all expenses to a credit card, and pay it off monthly, so that makes doing this easier. I know from my budget how much should get charged to the card every month (roughly), so that tells us if we're on track or over budget.
Having a few months forecasted out, I can then have goals to meet for the next section of my file, the balance sheet (or net worth statement). Net worth tells you where you are at right now, but I also want to know where I'll be in three months, a year, five years, etc. So I do side by side statements going forward, with my cash balance linked to my cash flow above.
All that done, now I can see where I am, where I'm going, and how fast my net worth is growing. I like to set target net worth amounts for future dates, and then work towards meeting that, gives me a lot of satisfaction.
This probably sounds like a lot of work to someone just starting out, but once it's set up, it's actually quite easy to maintain. It's essentially just running your household finances like a business would, the three statements I've discussed are the same core ones every business uses.