Budget system

[tcufrog]

For the past two years, our financial situation has been very chaotic and messy to the point where I wasn't able to create a proper budget. We've finally gotten to a place where I feel I can create a new budget and I'd like to use a workbook or software/website to do so instead of the Excel spreadsheets I used to use. The problem I'm having is that a lot of them want to port information over from bank websites and automatically assign categories but won't let me also manually enter information. Unfortunately, that isn't possible for some of our accounts. I'm not worried so much about saving money or reducing how much we spend. We are doing quite well in those areas already. I'm more interested in establishing a budget and tracking our money. The tracking can be challenging since we have to pull money from two banks, one of which won't automatically port info into budget tracking software.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Etonduf]

I love You Need a Budget (aka YNAB). It's intended to be used with a pretty specific philosophy/approach to budgeting and I was resistant at first, but it really has improved my life and financial sanity. It's a paid subscription (website and app access both included), but they offer a trial. If you contact them they will extend the trial to 3 months, so plenty of opportunity to see if it's right for you.

I hear good things about Every Dollar, though I don't use it and am not sure about bank importing.

And probably the most popular option is Mint.com. I consider it more of a tracking tool now that I'm used to budgeting with YNAB, but Mint does do budgeting as well. It is free.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I second You Need A Budget, I've been using it for 4 months now and it has helped me so much. I manually enter things all the time into it and it is easy to use while being so helpful.

 

[trenty]

I like Every Dollar. It is free and very easy to use.

 

[starry_solo]

Do you think you would track it better if you hand-wrote items versus using an app/typing it out?

 

[tcufrog]

I don't paying for something if it's worth it. I don't mind hand writing it but I am concerned about how time-consuming it might be.

Some other friends of mine recommended Quicken. Does anyone know how it compares to the other options recommended here?

 

[trenty]

I don't paying for something if it's worth it. I don't mind hand writing it but I am concerned about how time-consuming it might be.

Some other friends of mine recommended Quicken. Does anyone know how it compares to the other options recommended here?

I haven't used Quicken so I can't compare it to Every Dollar. With EveryDollar you can use the app on your phone so each time you spend money on something, it takes just seconds to enter. (You can also use it online on a desktop or laptop.) You do not have to import from your bank. It does have the ability to do that, but there is a fee. The free version is all manual entry.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

I don't paying for something if it's worth it. I don't mind hand writing it but I am concerned about how time-consuming it might be.

Some other friends of mine recommended Quicken. Does anyone know how it compares to the other options recommended here?

I use Quicken and love it. But I don't do the budget feature. I just like it basically to be my register for all accounts; checking, savings, CDs, bonds, retirement, credit cards and home loan. I don't link to anything external, although that is an option.

I used to be great and actually categorize everything, but that meant splits on different things. Like a charge to Target where a certain amount would be groceries, another amount cleaning supplies, etc. I found that too putzy so I just pick one category. It is nice because I could at any point just do a shot of all expenses and it will say how much over a given time in each category.

I supplement this with an Excel spreadsheet for each month. I don't budget into a ton of categories so it isn't overly time consuming for me. I've often thought of just stopping Excel budget since we have pretty much been set in our spending habits for the past 10 years but I still like it so I just keep it up.

 

[_19disnA]

Excel works great for basic budgeting. You can list recurring expenses like: 1) home mortgage, 2) car payments, 3) utilities, 4) phone/TV service....etc. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

 

[1st*toright]

I'm another YNAB user, and it really helped me get a handle on our budget. I love the auto download of transactions, but it works just fine if you manually enter certain items (as long as you make sure you reconcile those back to your accounts regularly). I've used other systems at various points (Quicken many many years ago, Mint also a long time ago, and the budget offered by my bank (worst of the lot). YNAB is a little different - I highly recommend taking a few of their webinars before trying to set it up - I was so confused by how it worked until I actually watched a class. All my expenses run through credit cards, then get paid off pretty much immediately, and YNAB is the best at accounting for that flow, once you understand how it works. It has really helped me see where we spend money and prioritize how we spend money.

 

[Etonduf]

I'm another YNAB user, and it really helped me get a handle on our budget. I love the auto download of transactions, but it works just fine if you manually enter certain items (as long as you make sure you reconcile those back to your accounts regularly). I've used other systems at various points (Quicken many many years ago, Mint also a long time ago, and the budget offered by my bank (worst of the lot). YNAB is a little different - I highly recommend taking a few of their webinars before trying to set it up - I was so confused by how it worked until I actually watched a class. All my expenses run through credit cards, then get paid off pretty much immediately, and YNAB is the best at accounting for that flow, once you understand how it works. It has really helped me see where we spend money and prioritize how we spend money.

A couple good points here. The YNAB approach really emphasizes being hands-on, so they want you to enter transactions manually. But they do offer bank syncing. So I enter everything manually on the app at the time of the transaction (very convenient!) and then when the bank imports appear I basically use that as a way to reconcile my accounts.

And you're right about watching videos or webinars. The best I found was "budgeting when you're broke." I wasn't broke, but that video does a great job of quickly explaining how everything works so that I could get started.

 

[platamama]

I don't paying for something if it's worth it. I don't mind hand writing it but I am concerned about how time-consuming it might be.

Some other friends of mine recommended Quicken. Does anyone know how it compares to the other options recommended here?

I used YNAB (desktop version, no longer supported) for 4 years. I refused to pay for a subscription for the web based version when I had already spent the money on the desktop YNAB. It was just ok for me, it did allow me to see what I spent in each category, but was completely worthless for tracking investments or loans so I never got a good sense of net worth and how that was changing over time and that was something I missed about Quicken, which I had used prior to YNAB. I'm also not motivated by a budget so maybe that's another part that didn't work for me.

It looks like so many services are going to the subscription-based model, so I'm back to using Quicken (subscription). I like that I can see an overview of my entire financial picture. I like that I can enter transactions through Quicken online or on my phone through the Quicken app. I enter everything manually, I just prefer it that way. I bought a 2 yr premier subscription when there was a 40% discount (around the beginning of January), so for those 2 years it cost less ($45/yr) than YNAB ($84/yr).

 

[pigletto]

I also used YNAB for years but stopped when it went to a monthly subscription model. I’m currently using the free version of Every Dollar and it’s doing what I need it to do. If it goes to monthly subscription I’ll head elsewhere. I refuse to pay monthly for a household budget. One time fee ? Sure. But I’m not being sucked into monthly payments that I don’t need. Just a personal choice.

 

[tvguy]

LOL. I just remember an editorial cartoon years ago that showed someone working on their budget and the caption was "buying the budget tracking software put me over budget"

 

[_19disnA]

I also used YNAB for years but stopped when it went to a monthly subscription model.

I think a lot of these online 'services' start out free with the intent to build a business from the income they generate if they get enough of the 'free' subscribers to turn into paying customers. Usually there are many equivalent products you can find online. Budgeting can be as simple or complicated as you like, just depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you already have Excel (or any similar generic spreadsheet product), you can easily create a spreadsheet to track income/expenses. There is nothing magical/unique about any of those pricey budgeting software products.

 

[tcufrog]

My dh and I share our accounts and I don't trust him to enter everything in manually. Luckily, the bank he uses for everyday transactions should be able to port their info into a budgeting app. There are a few major things I pay for though out of savings at our investment bank and that bank doesn't have that capability. That's why I want to be able to enter things manually. I don't need to track our investments there because I go to the investment bank's website to do that.

 

[agavegirl1]

I use Quicken and have for over ten years. However, I am also an accountant and my DH does not do any "recording". He is very good at handing over every receipt and if he uses cash, he lets me know. I don't recommend it for simple or free but for consistent, year after year data. Whatever you use, do not make the mistake of taking historical figures to make a new budget. The best thing to do is "zero based budgeting". Start with zero and add in expenses you know. Then estimate recurring but variable amounts. Don't fall into the trap, "well last year we spent $X on entertainment so we can put that in there" trap.

 

[tcufrog]

I use Quicken and have for over ten years. However, I am also an accountant and my DH does not do any "recording". He is very good at handing over every receipt and if he uses cash, he lets me know. I don't recommend it for simple or free but for consistent, year after year data. Whatever you use, do not make the mistake of taking historical figures to make a new budget. The best thing to do is "zero based budgeting". Start with zero and add in expenses you know. Then estimate recurring but variable amounts. Don't fall into the trap, "well last year we spent $X on entertainment so we can put that in there" trap.

I'm not expecting to find a free program that will have all of the functionality I want. One of the reasons why I'm doing this now is because we are sort of starting over from scratch. We moved into a new home right before Thanksgiving and we finally sold our previous home. We also are making some major changes to how we manage money and are moving our everyday money to a different bank. We're unhappy with the customer service at our current bank. Those two events happening at the same time makes it the perfect time for us to do this since this is as close to a clean slate as we've had in a long time.

 

[agavegirl1]

I do find the ability to completely customize Quicken to be helpful for the "clean slate scenario". Also, if you happen to have a "side gig" the "Home and Business version can track that as well.

 

[_19disnA]

It partly depends on how you define 'budgeting'. For some people, they simply want a backward look at expenses for tracking purposes. Others want a more forward looking approach to project future expenses/income. There is no one right/wrong way to do that. If you typically go on 2 vacations per year and spend X dollars, you should include that in your current year's plan. This avoids surprises. What you spent monthly in the prior year for various recurring expenses should be included to help get you started for the current year. Decisions about when to plan for remodeling or doing various home repairs or other significant expenses can be timed out to match your budget. As you get closer to retirement, decisions about your pension (if you company offers one) or when to start Social Security should also be part of your budget.