Menu Planning - How do I do it?

Each fortnight we like to menu plan. When I don't do it, we overspend and forget vital ingredients needed for certain meals. We don't live in a town that has a variety of items so we often have a 15-20 minute drive if we need anything we have forgotten. I try to avoid this if possible as I drive a lot for work and often don't want to do any more than needed.
All we use is 2 separate pieces of paper. One piece we write down the days of the week x 14 [ie wednesday to the following tuesday in a fortnights time].

                                                            Home made lasagne -Yum !

Each fortnight we go through our pantry cupboards and our freezer and see what we have left [ie if there's mince and pasta and pasta sauce we will make spaghetti bolognaise or lasagne and immediately write that meal on our menu plan.
We then write down any ingredients needed [ie we have the mince and the pasta but no tinned tomatoes so onto the shopping list page we write 'tinned tomatoes']. And we continue with whatever we have left over in the freezer / cupboard.
This way works for us as we only have a small freezer and we don't want foods to be in there for too long either.
Once our fortnightly menu plan is done we go through and write on our list anything that is needed for those meals. Mostly my husband does the grocery shop now which is great as I tend to browse more and he is a 'get in and get out' kinda guy ;)

Some fortnights we have to buy very little and other fortnights we need to buy a little more. It always varies. I also keep each menu plan. I can't ever really use a menu plan again as what we have in the freezer / pantry always varies but I like to keep them so that I have a record and it gives me ideas of what I can cook and reminds me of meals that were / weren't nice.

We usually try and include one or two vegetarian meals and one or two pizza nights which is usually on a friday night as our weekly treat.

Our menu this week [I'm halfway through our fortnight so I'll start with from now until next tuesday is as follows ].

Monday - Chow Mein Mince
Tuesday - Chow Mein Mince on toast [leftovers]
Wednesday - Zucchini Slice and Salad
Thursday - Chicken Schnitzels and pesto wholemeal pasta and salad
Friday - Pizza and Garlic Bread
Saturday - Teriyaki beef cheek and rice
Sunday - Honey Soy Chicken and rice stirfry
Monday - Pan fried chicken and salad.

[Each fortnight our days planned for certain meals may also change depending on our routine / plans etc] . If we have a late night due to my girls dancing or something we may switch to pizza that night instead of friday night if we don't have alot of prep time.

This year I have also started a notebook collection where I am keeping the menu plan, shopping list and shopping reciepts together and I'm challenging myself to notice where I am overspending and really keeping an eye on the budget to ensure I'm not going over it and actually trying to come out with more money.
This fortnight I did the groceries and overspent as I purchased some hair ties, ice bricks etc at the Aldi school sale for my daughters as they needed new ones.
I think once hubby goes back to doing the shopping these little purchases won't happen as I won't be there to be tempted.

So how do you menu plan? Do you menu plan? Stick to your shopping list or not? Would love to hear what everyone else does :)