Budgeting apps

Scougar

Scougar

Scougar

Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2007
Posts
15,507
Location
PA, USA (Orig UK)
Ok... so I have come to realize I am terrible with money. I spend it so quickly and don't really pay attention to upcoming bills that much etc.

I have a fair amount of income, I am just not being smart at all about it.

Apart from pen and paper, what easy to use software (maybe even for my android phone) so you guys use for budgetting and keeping tabs on things?

(an example of me being bad, is that I just went out and bought some lessons for shooting a pistol, bought a 150 paintball marker, 50 in paintball parts.. and lots of other stuff, without even considering that I really have 700 and 1200 bills coming up for my two dogs.)

I need to get a handle on this once and for all, and stop sticking my head in the sand.
 
I use Wallet by budgetbakers, keeps tracks of all my income/expenses and I can set budgets as well as a crap ton of other stuff too.
 
I've started using a spreadsheet on google docs. It helps that it's completely customisable and I've got it working out the details of my pay cheque and feeding that into the monthly income. Then I can see a projected month-end bank balance, basically, after all is said and done. Buy a sandwich? put it in the extra food column and see the balance drop.

It's maybe not as fancy as an app or service (some services are not free and I can't stomach the irony) but it gets the job done and helps me spend less.
 
simplest way to budget is having 2 bank accounts. one for bills which you set up a standing order to put x amount in that will cover the bills and one off extras, and then another account for fun stuff. put say £500 in per month and then don't worry about budgeting. spend just on that card the stuff you consider extras.
 
For many years, the leading products were MS Money and Intuit's Quicken. Quicken was my personal preference, but both have been withdrawn from sale in the UK, and at least for MS Money in the US too, for some years.

MS have made "Sunset" versions available from their download site (search on MS Download for "Money Sunset"). They are free to d/l and use, but also free from any form of ongoing support, and online features, like connecting direct to banks, won't work. But for basic budgeting, they're fine. There may be a similar EOL version of QuickenUK , but I haven't looked.

I have seen quite a few other products too, BankGenie I think was one, but have no knowledge of them in use. There are also a number of magazine and newspaper articles about Quicken or MS Money alternatives.

Or, the simplest option is to get (or create, if you have the skills) a simple spreadsheep model for Excel, etc.

EDIT Just noticed your location. Quicken US might still be available. It was, IIRC, for a while after the UK one died. If so, it's the one with the Rolls Royce pedigree, IMHO.
 
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yer_averagejoe said:
I've started using a spreadsheet on google docs. It helps that it's completely customisable and I've got it working out the details of my pay cheque and feeding that into the monthly income. Then I can see a projected month-end bank balance, basically, after all is said and done. Buy a sandwich? put it in the extra food column and see the balance drop.

It's maybe not as fancy as an app or service (some services are not free and I can't stomach the irony) but it gets the job done and helps me spend less.
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+1 for full spreadsheet, best thing I did was to set one up when I changed from weekly to 4 weekly pay, as allows me to see at a glance how much money I will have left at end of 4 weeks after all bills are paid, and plan any big spending around that.

I also have my bank loan, and any other long term debts (e.g. tax credits overpayments) set out on spreadsheets, so I can keep records of when payments are made, and helps visualise outstanding balances, and whether I can repay them early etc.
 
My wife uses the 'youneedabudget' one. I do not micro manage my money but have a spreadsheet that I add all my DDs up with. Leaves me with a figure a month that I can do as I like with.
 
Thanks for the tips on 'You need a budget'. I will look it up tonight.

I really need to get this sorted out. I've always been an impulsive spender and now I have nothing really to show for it at nearly 40.
 
Hedge said:
Ynab is good but I gotta admit I'm bad at using these things.
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Me to. which is why I want something simple, but no limited in functionality. The waveapps sounds interesting because it would minimize the typing and hopefully is just drag and drop to buckets (house/food/fun etc).

I will have to force myself to use something and get my budget under control, because it will actually allow me to buy what I want rather than living on the edge all the time. I am thinking of applying the MoSCoW rules (Must, Should, Could, Want) to my life choices lol.
 
I use Quicken at the moment (moved from MS Money as it broke) just to track my money as I have a few accounts, don't really use the budgeting bits. I guess I use it more in an accounting way so I can see everything in one place over all accounts and can also report on stuff if I want.

There's also You Need a Budget which people seem to rave about. I tried it, but it's really hugely budget based which I hated, but can see how it'd help if you're not good at managing.

Scougar said:
Me to. which is why I want something simple, but no limited in functionality. The waveapps sounds interesting because it would minimize the typing and hopefully is just drag and drop to buckets (house/food/fun etc).

I will have to force myself to use something and get my budget under control, because it will actually allow me to buy what I want rather than living on the edge all the time. I am thinking of applying the MoSCoW rules (Must, Should, Could, Want) to my life choices lol.
Click to expand...

ynab is easy enough. Get the app on your phone, then there's a 'add transaction' button for when you spend something.
 
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