I live Mvelopes....but

[sounderella]

I love Mvelopes. I'm a visual person and it allows me to see exactly how everything comes together. However, my free trial is about to run out and I don't think I'm really in a spot to be paying for it right now. Sooo.. my question is: how do you think I can go about doing something like this for free. The reason I like this is because I think the envelope system works for me. The only problem is, with working the 2nd job I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and physically do the envelope system. It's tremendously easy for me to glance over it while I'm working my 1st job (on breaks of course ) Are there any excel templates I can find to kind of simulate the same thing or something else that would be easy to do? I know Mvelopes isn't that expensive and if I need to find a way to keep it so I can stay on track, I will....I just wanted to see if there were free options. Thanks in advance!

[poundwise]

When you say "visual" and "envelope system" it brings to mind a product simply called Budget by Snowmint. They offer a free trial; you may want to check it out.

[lehresman]

I know this is self promotion, but this kind of situation is exactly why I created NeoBudget (see link in my signature). It's dirt cheap. If you can't afford it, email me and I'll work something out.

I was in the same situation you are in, and didn't find anything out there that I liked, so I made my own.

There are also some good Excel spreadsheets out there.

I saw a blog post recently about this on Gather Little By Little: My Personal Excel Budget Spreadsheet -- they posted a spreadsheet template.

I hear that the PearBudget spreadsheet template is good too, but I don't have a link to that one.

[LuxLiving]

Two systems that cost a little up front but not really ongoing expenses and are somewhat similar are budgetmap.com (a checkbook system that's pretty cool) and youneedabudget.com.

[Diolla]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

Two systems that cost a little up front but not really ongoing expenses and are somewhat similar are budgetmap.com (a checkbook system that's pretty cool) and youneedabudget.com.

I disagree, youneedabudget is a good budgeting tool but it is not an envelope type budgeting tool it is a category type tool.

The best one I have found is Home Budget (mine is version 4.07) at softperfection.com. I believe it cost me $25 to buy but there was a free trial that never wore out. I liked it enough that I decided to purchase it. It lets you set up as many or as few envelopes as you like.

If you liked myenvelopes I would suggest you try this. There is no ongoing fee and if you don't like it after the trial period is over you can just get trash it without the hassle of a refund.

[Ima saver]

I have used real envelopes for 43 years! Hey it works for me!!