Budget Software

[KiwiJo09]

What budgeting software do you use? I use Mint, but my dad uses ynab. I know a lot of people use Quicken. Which do you use and what are the differences? Has it helped you spend less money?

[troyw]

Originally Posted by KiwiJo09

What budgeting software do you use? I use Mint, but my dad uses ynab. I know a lot of people use Quicken. Which do you use and what are the differences? Has it helped you spend less money?

I currently use Quicken for tracking daily expenses, keeping up with net worth, etc. The knock on Quicken is that it can become complicated and you will eventually have to update the software because Intuit only offers support for so many years.

For budget tracking, I use Pear Budget (http://www.pearbudget.com ). It's a really simple interface that requires you to manually enter your transactions (unlike downloads with most software). The manual method is good for me b/c it forces me to be more aware of what we spend each month. I highly recommend this site if simple is what you prefer.

[littleroc02us]

I've created my own budgeting document in Excel that works great for me, it's a bi-weekly itemized spreadsheet that tracks spending down to the dollar.

[AshleyB]

We also just use excel.

I just recently tried out mint.com and got all excited about it, but when I actually tried to use it I realized it won't work for us. But it's a pretty cool program and I can see how it would be good for others.

[skydivingchic]

I'm an Mvelopes user. I started a little over 4 years ago and absolutely love their program. It matches exactly the way I need/want to think about my money (in individual "buckets" for different purposes) without needing a whole bunch of accounts.

[solvision]

Originally Posted by KiwiJo09

What budgeting software do you use? I use Mint, but my dad uses ynab. I know a lot of people use Quicken. Which do you use and what are the differences? Has it helped you spend less money?

I've used quite a few. Microsoft Money is I feel one of the best, as it has very accurate forecasting, so you know exactly where you will be in total or individual accounts.

Currently I'm using KmyMoney. It's free and has much the same functionality.

One thing though, when you begin using these programs, itemise everything, track how much you spent on newspaper at the store, groceries, gas, taxis, etc everything for a few months. They will show you some surprises on how much things can add up. This helps for modifying your budget etc and trying to save in different areas.

Then once you are in a good rhythm, you can stop tracking everything and just setup an expense that withdraws 1 figure for your weekly or monthly spending.

[kork13]

Another Excel user here. I designed a series of my own spreadsheets for everything from budget, and expenses to account balance tracking and estimating my checking account balance for the following month.

I used Quicken for a few years, but found that it didn't have all of the functions I wanted, and it had too many bugs (ex: it would duplicate transactions), so I ditched it and went the home-made route...and I've never looked back.

[KiwiJo09]

Originally Posted by solvision

I've used quite a few. Microsoft Money is I feel one of the best, as it has very accurate forecasting, so you know exactly where you will be in total or individual accounts.

Currently I'm using KmyMoney. It's free and has much the same functionality.

One thing though, when you begin using these programs, itemise everything, track how much you spent on newspaper at the store, groceries, gas, taxis, etc everything for a few months. They will show you some surprises on how much things can add up. This helps for modifying your budget etc and trying to save in different areas.

Then once you are in a good rhythm, you can stop tracking everything and just setup an expense that withdraws 1 figure for your weekly or monthly spending.

I'm currently downloading KMyMoney. At the moment, I already have a weekly budget for everything. It's worked out well. I haven't had to keep as tight of track with my budgeting as I used to, but it's nice to go in and see that we've spent less money this month on xxxx than last month. That kind of thing.

[PMMM]

I use Quicken for downloading transactions and keeping my checking and savings accounts accurate. I also use it for my brokerage account. Makes it easy come tax time. But to manage my spending and budget I use YNAB. I have some double entry but it works good for me and allows me to get to the bare bones of my money.

[LuckyRobin]

I've built my own spreadsheets in Excel, as well. It allows me to have every single category I want and track all of my different goals, without trying to fit them into some pre-formed expensive software.

[CCCFree]

Mint is an excellent software application and is exactly what I use to keep track of day to day expenses but I like to use quick books as well.

[JimInOK]

For my monthly budget, I use Excel. For a database of all my past financial transactions (for snapshot reports going back years), I use Quicken. This requires double-entry of all transactions on my part, which is both a pain and a useful check against errors.

[jpg7n16]

Used to use MS Money, now use YNAB. I like it a lot more.

[herdjohnson]

Excel. My whole life is built into excel!

[KiwiJo09]

I officially bought YNAB. I think it's great and it's definitely got me thinking about not living paycheck to paycheck. Any extra stuff is put in my savings account within the bank. That way, if I need it, it's there. I'm also saving for a new car. We'll see how that goes.

[MonkeyMama]

I actually use Quicken. IT pays for itself. I like the functionality much better than any free options.

That said, I use excel to supplement Quicken. I use excel to track my net worth (works better than Quicken because I open and close accounts too often - I don't want to see every account I ever owned, in Quicken every day - but a simple excel summary will do). I also track my savings sub-accounts in excel. I know how to in Quicken, but kind of like the excel/Quicken combo better.

I actually don't use any traditional budgeting. My "budgeting method" is to know where every penny goes. Quicken is good and time efficient for that. I rely on my net worth statement (excel) to keep an eye on the big picture.

[jpg7n16]

Originally Posted by KiwiJo09

I officially bought YNAB. I think it's great and it's definitely got me thinking about not living paycheck to paycheck. Any extra stuff is put in my savings account within the bank. That way, if I need it, it's there. I'm also saving for a new car. We'll see how that goes.

One of the things I really like about YNAB is that it lets you build a balance over time. So you can see how much you've budgeted towards 'Christmas gifts' or 'tire replacement' - and I like that you can autofill with the previous month, or autofill with your average month.

The new version has much better graphs than the original. So I can track my fast food spending and see the trends over time.

Very good software

[solvision]

Originally Posted by KiwiJo09

I'm currently downloading KMyMoney. At the moment, I already have a weekly budget for everything. It's worked out well. I haven't had to keep as tight of track with my budgeting as I used to, but it's nice to go in and see that we've spent less money this month on xxxx than last month. That kind of thing.

Yep I know what you mean. Whenever I change circumstances (move city, jobs, or whatever) I always track each expense to see what's happening, and if I need to budget more or less.

Let me know how you go setting it up.

[KiwiJo09]

Originally Posted by solvision

Yep I know what you mean. Whenever I change circumstances (move city, jobs, or whatever) I always track each expense to see what's happening, and if I need to budget more or less.

Let me know how you go setting it up.

KMyMoney didn't work for some strange reason. I downloaded and installed the software and then *poof* it didn't exist anywhere on my hard drive. Weird. Anyways, I ended up going with YNAB. It costs money, but I like it a lot better than Mint. It encourages having savings so you don't live paycheck to paycheck anymore.

We're doing good on YNAB. The "every dollar gets a job" rule is really helping, although we both hate it. We love spending money, but it's better to save it and we both know it.

The only thing we have a real problem with is eating out. I try desperately only to allow us to eat out once a week. It's a real challenge though. We like eating out.

[solvision]

Strange that it disappeared. I'll be sure to check out YNAB.