Thoughts on keeping up with Updates

It always seems like I spend a lot of extra time keeping up with updates for workstations and servers. In the past I have used a lot of paper to keep track of security updates and what machines I have applied them to.

I am in the process of creating a spreadsheet to keep track of this when it hit me to see if other Administrators are having the same problems and what they do to get through this situation. I know there are commerical tools to help, but I want to see what everyone thinks about this subject.

Thanks.