Budget tool

[Billy32]

Hi all, im searching for a free budget tool to manage my finances. Anyone know any decent sites i can get this from? Only free ones please.

[jpg7n16]

There's www.mint.com for tracking expenses

And Gazelle budget lite - daveramsey.com for creating a budget.

Why only free ones? Some of the more expense budget software tools have features that are worth the extra amount (to me at least). I use YNAB.

[Nightfly]

Try BuckTrak.com. Lets you set up your own budget categories and subcategories, upload bank and credit card statements, and provides a nice "dashboard" giving you a visual of your financial situation every time you log in. It's free, also.

[GrimJack]

I use Mint.com - they are part of Intuit; it is a free and you can track your investments, bank accounts, and credit cards. It also has a budget system and goal tracker

[Slug]

I use Yodlee. I currently prefer it to Mint. Review of Yodlee vs. Mint | Sunk Costs Are Irrelevant

[thesmartnickel]

If you have an iTouch or iPhone or other smartphone, there are plenty of free budgeting apps. I find them quite handy since you can budget your expenses right after you make the purchase and some are really useful. The one I use currently is called SpendingLite which I linked to my review in case you are interested.

I've heard good things about Mint.com as well like the other people who have posted but I am not comfortable yet with putting credit card and bank account information online. I've heard it's a great one-stop shop though if you aren't bothered by putting your information up though.

[J.Apple902]

I use Yodlee. I currently prefer it to Mint. Review of Yodlee vs. Mint | Sunk Costs Are Irrelevant

I personally just use excel to track my spending. As a 24 yr old single guy with just a few accounts and cards, this is easy. Also, I can customize everything the way I like it. I expected some seasoned vets like Slug to have a custom approach as well. Many people do not like giving out all of their bank information.

Thoughts? Thanks!

[adpiterp]

I personally just use excel to track my spending. As a 24 yr old single guy with just a few accounts and cards, this is easy. Also, I can customize everything the way I like it. I expected some seasoned vets like Slug to have a custom approach as well. Many people do not like giving out all of their bank information.

Thoughts? Thanks!

I use Excel also. I track every penny I spend and put them in categories with a budget for each. I also use mint.com - I am a sucker for those graphs and visuals!

[phantom]

I personally just use excel to track my spending. As a 24 yr old single guy with just a few accounts and cards, this is easy. Also, I can customize everything the way I like it. I expected some seasoned vets like Slug to have a custom approach as well. Many people do not like giving out all of their bank information.

Thoughts? Thanks!

When I was single with just a few accounts, I really liked Excel for the flexibility too. But, when I got married, I couldn't find a good way to adapt my Excel spreadsheet to encompass my husband's accounts. So, I started searching for a new tool. I tried Mint at first. It was great for seeing a bunch of accounts at once. But, the inflexibility of Mint drove me crazy, so I started using GnuCash too. Now I use Mint to aggregate data, to keep an eye out for unexpected transactions, and to maintain a basic budget. I use GnuCash to manage cash flow and to generate charts. GnuCash charts aren't as pretty as Mint charts, but it's a whole lot easier to get accurate information on them.

Sometimes I think I should be more worried than I am about having given my banking information to Mint. But, using Mint allows me to easily monitor all of my accounts at once from any computer I happen to be at, and I think that being able to better watch my accounts makes up for adding an additional way in which my accounts could be compromised.

[BudgetSurgeon]

I use a home-grown Excel spreadsheet - it is extremely easy to create, and more importantly, I focus on budget items, and reducing each of their costs.