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Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

m.trykeep.com

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Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#41

Post by DLarsen »

Pretty neat. I'm also working on a side project in the same vein. The key to improving spending behavior in my own household has been to focus on and evaluate decisions. http://www.spendlight.com/

My approach is a bit broader in that I find it useful to record both the good and bad decisions with a view toward improvement.

I also prompt users for a bit of self-evaluation. When you goof, you are asked something like "What could you have done without in order to stay within your limits?" When you do well, you are asked something like "What was the key to making wise choices today?"

I'm not a big fan of the input mechanism. It's novel and fun, but I'd bet that the fun wears out quickly.

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#43

Post by reshambabble »

Wow. You've taken a key insight and created something that directly hits the emotions of your users. You're engaging their feelings, passions, and desires. It will be nice to see how your website, communications, and even your product evolves!

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#45

Post by Haul4ss »

jonlucc wrote: post #38
nilkn wrote: post #20

Based on my experience at least, YNAB (You Need A Budget -- http://www.youneedabudget.com/ ) is the best budgeting software out there. It's a lot more complex than this, and unlike something like Mint it does require you to manually enter transactions. However, it is really the best interface I've found for setting a budget. Probably the best feature is that it can naturally incorporate overspending. If you set your…

My wife and I were discussing this a few weeks ago. If YNAB could automatically grab my bank transactions like Mint, I would be sold. I love their philosophy on budgeting.

The whole point of YNAB (Rule #1 of their program) is that you need to proactively allocate every dollar you have. Every dollar has a job, and then you need to manually enter when that dollar is doing its job so you feel when that money actually gets spent.

I tried for years to use Mint, but it's too passive. Too easy to ignore. With YNAB, every purchase goes in when we make the purchase, and I found it keeps us more honest about our budget estimates and also helps to curtail frivolous spending.

To each his own, of course.

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#46

Post by amwelles »

nilkn wrote: post #20

Based on my experience at least, YNAB (You Need A Budget -- http://www.youneedabudget.com/ ) is the best budgeting software out there. It's a lot more complex than this, and unlike something like Mint it does require you to manually enter transactions. However, it is really the best interface I've found for setting a budget. Probably the best feature is that it can naturally incorporate overspending. If you set your…

I adore YNAB. I started using it a couple of years ago when I had no savings and was living paycheck-to-paycheck but was making decent money. Now I have a cushy emergency fund, moving apartments was a breeze, and I'm saving up to buy some land. You do have to stick to their philosophy, but I've found it works really well for me.

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#47

Post by waterfowl »

nilkn wrote: post #20

Based on my experience at least, YNAB (You Need A Budget -- http://www.youneedabudget.com/ ) is the best budgeting software out there. It's a lot more complex than this, and unlike something like Mint it does require you to manually enter transactions. However, it is really the best interface I've found for setting a budget. Probably the best feature is that it can naturally incorporate overspending. If you set your…

YNAB is dope and pretty cheap now with steam sales. Back in the bad old days it was like $60 but still super worth it(you'll save $60 in a couple days) and they seem like a pretty cool mostly remote etc dev shop.

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#48

Post by waterfowl »

hsitz wrote: post #15
bsmith wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that your middle-class life is an "exploding volcano of wastefulness" and you can make a lot of decisions that reduce your expenses without sacrificing much, if any, quality of life. For example, living closer to work and riding a bike or walking instead of driving a car everywhere—makes you fitter, happier, and saves you cash. Sure, he takes it to an extreme not all could stomach, but there is p…

Yeah, Mr. Mustache himself may carry it to extremes that most people wouldn't want. But it seems he himself and his family are actually happier than they were when they were spending more. Plus they're retired (or semi-retired) and they have no money worries. I think the optimal spending for most people -- i.e., the amount of spending that would maximize happiness -- is far lower than the amount that most people actu…

And MMM considers himself to be fairly "non extreme" compared to other big names in the space(Early Retirement Extreme being the most prominent contrast...that guy was harrrrrdcore)

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#49

Post by waterfowl »

andkon wrote: post #28
waterfowl wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is true. It is certainly more plausible for the average HN reader than the average person in the world though.

Especially because I'm pretty sure he is/was a software engineer, who happened to ride the crest of two real estate bubbles.

he was(and so was his wife). AND they were canadian so free/cheap school graduating right around 2000 before moving south of the border, they defs got lucky(and definitely worked hard)

Re: Show HN: Keep, an app that helps you love how you spend every dollar

#50

Post by gohrt »

Haul4ss wrote: post #45
jonlucc wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I were discussing this a few weeks ago. If YNAB could automatically grab my bank transactions like Mint, I would be sold. I love their philosophy on budgeting.

The whole point of YNAB (Rule #1 of their program) is that you need to proactively allocate every dollar you have. Every dollar has a job, and then you need to manually enter when that dollar is doing its job so you feel when that money actually gets spent. I tried for years to use Mint, but it's too passive. Too easy to ignore. With YNAB, every purchase goes in when we make the purchase, and I found it keeps us more…

To be most useful, YNAB should know my passive spending, and then harass me about all the dollars I am not reporting. Otherwise, I can just leak money and not talk about it.
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