Budget Apps

No, but it actually sounds like a good idea. I think that it is good to be able to keep track of what you are doing money wise. Budgeting apps sound like something that would be helpful..and since I don't shop on a daily basis it might be useful for someone like me. I think I will look at it, and make a determination.

 

I don't have enough money to need this type of thing right now, but I can see how it could be helpful. I was an executive assistant at one point, and would do this for the company owner. Everything was inputted from receipts, she didn't pay cash for anything. It was also helpful to her for tax purposes, so she would be ready for tax season. This was for both her and for the company, since it was a small company. I found it interesting to see where and how she spent her money, since her lifestyle was obviously different from mine.

 

I have tried using budgeting apps, and in theory they sound amazing to me. My fiancee, who is extremely focused financially and organized, uses one and he puts on his app even what he has on his wallet, up to cents! I think that is way too extreme, but I'm the extreme opposite. I tried keeping track of only my bank accounts and must say it is not something I'm good at. These apps help, but they only work if you diligently add the information, which I don't. So they end up not doing anything for me.

 

Well no. I don't see the need to use budgeting apps because I am able to create a budget without needing to use one myself; and when I tried to use one before, I felt that it became counterproductive because I started becoming more confused rather than it simplifying my financial life. I'm like @isabbbela because I totally forget to add information on my app which therefore confused me further. Which is why I just deleted them and reverted to my previous budgeting way and I'm having no regrets with my decision.

 

I use a checkbook app that categories entries if I so choose to use that feature. I have found it very useful. Since I'm already adding the entry into my checkbook, it really doesn't take any extra time to categorize each expense. Once the transactions are added, the app will let you look at each category and you can see how much you've spend in terms of month or year, and it will chart overall how much goes to each category. We've found it helpful. It showed us that we were dining out way too much when we didn't even realize it.

 

I have looked into some of these apps and I have to say I give them a pass. If you cannot do it on your own, there is nothing that an app will be able to do for you, and in my opinion it is just putting personal information more at risk for use by others, which is never a good idea for several obvious reasons.

 

I would just use Mint. The web interface is nice, they can connect to most of your accounts without a charge, they send you emails and have a free iphone/android app. All in all, I've been pretty happy with them. Their budgeting stuff can be a little hard to navigate, but their goal creation is awesome. So, yea, go with Mint.

 

Well, if your bank offers one, use that. I had an app from intuit which was offered by the bank. It tracked all of my transactions, and when I took money out of the atm, it would mark that as cash. So, really I only had to track my cash transactions, everything else that app did automatically. For example, it knew when I paid a bill that it was a T-mobile, so it marked it as mobile.

Then, at the end of the month, I simply went online to my dashboard and checked. It gave me a nice breakdown of where I had spent the money.

I realized that I was spending a lot of money eating out, which is what I changed.

Anyways, quickbooks can be synced with a lot of payment gateways, and even with paypal. So, if your bank does not offer a customized intuit app, you can use intuit's quickbooks. Or something similar. Automate things don't do them manually.

 

I think this is a great idea, as it can shock you sometimes just how much of your money you waste on things that you didn't really even know about. If you start keeping track of every single cent for a while, you will be able to see your trends and this will help you to make the decision about where you could save money in the future.

 

I have tried both MINT and YNAB.
They work great, my girl ended up sticking with Mint and it has really helped her budget.
I'm old school, I do it all on excel! I track things on a notepad on the phone then when I get home I plug it into my excel sheet which we also use as our "master" household budget. It's amazing the amount of money I spent that I had no idea about before I started keeping track. Small impulse purchases and being at the pub with friends really adds up...

 

I've heard great things about MINT from several people. I personally haven't tried it, but if I were looking for a budgeting app, I might give it a try.

 

I've also heard a lot about mint, so recently I downloaded it. It emails you a weekly summary of all the money you've spent and what categories it went to. It's great because you can track if you spend most of your money on entertainment, eating out etc.

 

What was your original budgeting method? I have noticed a lot of people seem to prefer the pen and paper method but to me it feels a bit stone age. Considering the fact that I know I always have my phone with me I think an app would work well for me.

 

I have never used a budgeting app partly because it is easier to budget as you go. I am not a fan of budgeting because even the most liberal budgets will tempt you to overshoot them. I try to keep my spending on the lower side. I am trying to acquire the habit of frugality so that any unplanned expenditures and wastage would be kept at a minimum.

 

I'm a huge fan of Mint overall as it's mostly automated. I know some people enjoy apps where you have to plug in every single receipt, income/withdrawal, then label everything accordingly ("Grocery, Entertainment," etc). With Mint though is does all that on its own, but of course you assume some risk with that because you have to let it access your bank account / credit card websites. Many people tend to worry that providing your login/pass to a third party forfeits your right to protection in the case of fraud or identity theft and the jury is sort of out on that one.

For me though, I've had two instances of credit card fraud in the past and I'm not so sure I would have noticed it so quickly if it wasn't for Mint actually sending me an automated email to let me know of the transaction charges -- you really want to nip these things in the bud ASAP.

 

Now that I'm currently in the most crucial budgeting stage of my life, I have often considered downloading a budgeting app to help or at least remind me not to overspend and properly allocate my earnings and achieve my target savings by June this year. Some people keep mentioning Mint and I have yet to discover whether downloading it works to my advantage.

 

Hey, I'd just like to say that budgeting apps are a great idea, and I have benefited a lot from them. I do not have a suggestion as I use my bank's app, but the amount of money I have started to save since I started using the app is pretty big!