Budgeting Tools
One of my favorite credit, loans, mortgages, debt, money shows was Everyday Wealth Radio hosted by Gerri Detweiler which has been canceled since last year in August, but the archives still exist. She sponsered the Everyday Wealth system which was online based, and I finally got mine setup earlier in February this year, but it has now closed this month. I have always relied on using my handy spreadsheet to keep a digital log of my checkbook and where the money is going. I don’t do the paper register in the checkbook thing because with debit cards it gets hard to try to write everything down. It is much easier to update my handy spreadsheet as things happen or planning for when they will happen.
I have tried to use Microsoft Money and Quicken (I know Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt loves Quicken) but I find these programs to show things after the fact. There is a lot of setup and tuning involved in making them work the way you want them to. Which makes me wonder, what about the other programs out there?
I have come across a few tools out there:
- YNAB - Short for You Need A Budget, based on the concept of living off of one month of earnings instead of paycheck to paycheck. Seems a little difficult to hold over enough money in order to pull this off, but the idea is intriguing. This is a software based solution that somewhat limits it’s use. I played with the demo of this and it takes some setup but it’s that living one month behind income that seems like a challenge.
- Mvelopes - This is an online based tool that gathers all your transactions from bank and credit accounts. From what I can tell so far, and I started looking at this recently, it is based on that old fashioned ’seperate your cash in envelopes’ idea. Instead of paper envelopes, this looks at your digital dollars via online banking (who doesn’t use online banking these days?) and compiles everything for you. They offer a 30 day trial that I might try out this month.
There is always the option of instead of trying to find a new tool, I could create something that might do what I would like it to. I do so much with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets with regards to keeping track of my checkbook, maybe I could create some sort of budget system to track things alongside. Budgets work differently for everyone and I don’t expect the system that works for me may work for you. I also highly believe that they must adapt as things change or making attempts to improve the system. Expect more to come on this topic later as I figure out what to do for this month.
Thanks for the mention!
I just wanted to clarify that, while I encourage users of YNAB to move toward living on last month’s income, the software is completely usable for those not yet in that situation!
Jesse thank you for the clarification. I understand that YNAB can be used in various situations, but it is the concept of living on last month’s income that seems to become the goal. Don’t get me wrong it is better to have a proactive approach than a reactive one showing you how you did at the end of the month. The only other limitation is it is software and not an online system, however I say this from the viewpoint of someone who designs web applications. I see great things in YNAB and by no means discourage anyone from looking at it themselves to see if it works for their unique situation.
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I use YNAB faithfully and it has CREATED more room in my budget than I ever could have imagined. No, it is not an online tool but he does have a stand alone product that is absolutely fantastic.
It also can be used without the one month buffer in the beginning when you are just starting out. I would recommend it highly because I know of its functionality.
Good luck!