Lurker Question

Mustard76

Who loves their budgeting software/tools? I currently use Mint, but I have a lot of connectivity issues. I've heard recommendations for You Need a Budget and Quicken. I haven't looked into either one yet, but I'm trying to get all the ideas I can. I have no interest in using spreadsheets or an envelope system. We use a credit card for everything to leverage rewards. While that helps me track purchases, I like the idea of categorizing them with a budgeting tool. TIA!

MissChanandlerBong

Sorry, I tried Mint but it wasn't as customizable as I needed, so I use spreadsheets.  I have heard a lot of recommendations for YNAB though. 

Wulfgar

We just use a spreadsheet also.  I really don't like how most of the commercial ones screw up what you put in versus when it hits your bank account.  When I did use Quicken, that was the biggest issue that I had, that and it wanted to have access to all of my bank accounts.

hoffse

Agreed, we use spreadsheets.  I also leverage credit cards for points, and I have varying closing dates.  So I have a different column for when something is "paid" on the card and then when the card is actually "paid" from my bank account, up to a month later.  I haven't found a budgeting tool that tracks for multiple closing dates.

YNAB might work - I know a few who use cc's use it on this board.  It's kind of annoying to use spreadsheets, but at least it's fully customizable.

I've thought about how that's something that needs to be available - next million dollar idea?

Erikan73

I use good budget. Just to warn you, it's budget has an "envelope" I can assign a dollar value to each envelope. We do use our credit card and I enter in the amounts spent into the app (which is available online too) to the appriopriate catergory and when the bill comes due I just sent in the cash to the the credit company. Using the envelope system still helps me realize where we are in our budget with spending with different catergories and it also allows me to put money away easily that I save up for during the year like license plates, AAA membership renewal and a few other things. I'm not sure if you can link it to your credit cards to enter the money spent automatically for you like Mint.com does.

als1982

I love Mint for an overall perspective, as an overall snapshot of our financial situation, and to watch our net worth.  For budgeting, we just keep an Excel spreadsheet.  It's a little work to set-up a system that works for you (which I think is the key - what works for us might not be the best for your situation), but we love tracking everything that way.  We (H and I) use CCs for miles and points, and meet once a week to go line by line through the budget and to pay off whatever we've added to the card(s) that week.

kmurphy2131

I used spreadsheets for a couple of years, but switched to YNAB in January.  We switched for a couple reasons.  The main driving force was that my husband was unhappy with how much money he was getting for certain things, and didn't have a good understanding of where things were going.  We both LOVE the YNAB software.  I have the desktop version on my computer and it is super user friendly.  We also both have the mobile app.  That way my husband can update things, and see what we have/where it is going.

I will admit, we do not use YNAB exactly as intended.  I estimate what our monthly income will be and budget based off of that.  Then at the end of the month I add up our income and adjust the categories as needed (usually I underestimate the income, so I just add more into our savings account).    You are suppose to budget based off of what is currently in your account but we use credit cards for everything so we pay things off at the end of the month and just let our income accumulate all month.  

I would highly recommend it though, we have saved a lot of money based on me having a better handle on our budget.  I know that spreadsheets are cheaper but it just was more cumbersome for us, we couldn't both quickly access it, and I wasn't able to update it while out spending my money.

AprilZ81

We also use Good Budget (a virtual envelope system) to track our spending.  You type in how much money you make and how often you get paid and it tells you how much you have available to spend each month.  Then you create your categories (envelopes) and assign a dollar amount.

Throughout the month it will track if you are ahead or behind each category for the month and you can virtually transfer money from one envelope to another.

You can set savings goals as well.

The free account gives you 10 regular monthly envelopes and I think another 10 "irregular" envelopes that I use for areas that we are saving for (retirement contributions, vacations, Christmas money, etc.).

jtmh2012

We put everything possible into Quicken.  However, we just don't have it sync the credit cards and the bank accounts.  It just syncs our investment accounts.

We don't put CDs in there, but we do have our car and bank loans.

Mustard76

Great info! Thanks, everyone, I appreciate your responses!