Online budgeting tool help

Why free? Even the paid ones (and better ones) are less than $100 a year

Another vote for YNAB (You Need a Budget).

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How is it more helpful for you than other budgeting methods?

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It integrates with participating banks. Obviously, you can enter the transactions manually (and they even recommend it for the "accountability" thing that you suggest), but I'm pretty lazy, so doing that for me helps.

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I am interested in using it, but always say I can just make my own spread sheet. Then, I never do.

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It's not "zero effort". There are default categories but you will have to customize those to fit your situation. You also have to go in and allocate every time there is income. You will have to tweak your categories over time to make those work. If you have too few/too broad budget categories, it just isn't going to help you nearly as well. The more and more specific (within reason), the better.

Once it is set up and running, though, I can't imagine going back to a spreadsheet. Now, I wasn't a spreadsheet expert, but the amount of reports and data I can get from YNAB is impressive. It is also essentially a searchable check/CC register or transaction database, just as another feature.