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How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

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Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#41

Post by bcook »

rloc wrote: post #32

I don't understand how people manage to log every purchase they make and keep on a budget (this app is no different). I find it so inefficient and time consuming. I can't even plan a budget. I prefer to focus on how much money I can actually save every month. Much simpler and easier to manage. Best is to put that money aside on the 1st of each month and see if you can stick to it. Then choosing what to spend less on…

I probably live a very different type of life-style, but your method is how I budget. I save everything I can, then only worry about (budget) the expensive items, of which there are only a dozen or so per month.

I highly doubt that my method would scale well if I had more income, though.

I dunno about the happier part, because my friends who live beyond their means sure seem happier! ;)

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#42

Post by mrlase »

NeonVice wrote: post #24
joshstrange wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded, I'm a big fan of YNAB (classic, web isn't ready yet)

I love YNAB and would love to use it in the cloud. It's a shame that it is isn't up to snuff yet and is $45/year. It would be great if someone came out with a cloned competitor.

I started working on one a week ago.

What are the main features you'd like to see that were left out from YNAB 4?

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#43

Post by koshyk »

morgosmaci wrote: post #25
koshyk wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well this is a story about taking control of finances by developinga system that, in the end, translated into an app idea. 2097 word long article where there's 195 words about an app. Don;t know if it's an ad

Not a comment about whether it is an add, but Blinq is already a crowded name, you may want to think up something unique. There was a dating app with AI hot or not ratings here just a day or two ago with the same name, not to mention the discount website that already has blinq.com.

thanks for a hint

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#44

Post by shallowpedantic »

koshyk wrote: post #16
shallowpedantic wrote: post #9

I'd recommend a combination of billguard and mint. Mainly billguard, both free. billguard allows you to add your debit/credit card accounts. when you make a purchase, bill guard notifies you. it will group your spending habits into different categories. at the end of every week, bill guard notifies you by email with a message similar to this "you have spent $400 this week etc. etc. going into the app itll show you wh…

still have to check Mint. Maybe it'll make me cancel Blinq development, or give some great ideas!

I would hope you won't cancel your app development. your app looks very intuitive and simplistic, the UI clean as well. didn't mean to overshadow your accomplishments. only a suggestion for an alternative.

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#45

Post by ianstormtaylor »

The app looks interesting! I'm nt sure if I'd stick to entering in every purchase, but I'd be willing to try. Worst case you could add Plaid integration as an option too. I do think there is value in simplifying way more than Mint.

One idea I had recently was for a similar interaction, but instead of for expenses it would be for every time you "saved" money. So for example, if you were in the super market and saw some $5 cookies and debated buying them. If you decided not to, since you wanted to save that money instead, you'd open then app and quickly enter $5. It would keep a tally of all of the savings you had instead of the expenses, to incentivize that mentality.

You might be able to easily incorporate that already (or I could after signing up) by adding a "Savings" category. But if there are any places where expenses are graphed or totaled it would need to be discounted.

Anyways, congrats and good luck with the launch! I like how clean it feels.

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#46

Post by koshyk »

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #45

The app looks interesting! I'm nt sure if I'd stick to entering in every purchase, but I'd be willing to try. Worst case you could add Plaid integration as an option too. I do think there is value in simplifying way more than Mint. One idea I had recently was for a similar interaction, but instead of for expenses it would be for every time you "saved" money. So for example, if you were in the super market and saw som…

Thanks for the advice! Right now, we;re working on MVP version of the app, but there are some things on the roadmap already. I'd definitely think about this feature!

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#47

Post by agarden »

koshyk wrote: post #14
joshstrange wrote: post #12

This is a huge, typo-filled Ad... If you want a good budgeting tool look no further than YNAB [0] it's done wonders for me in tracking where my money is going how much I am spending in various categories as well as a good birds eye view of my finances (which even mint couldn't do well) [0] http://www.youneedabudget.com/ (Though I suggest you use http://classic.youneedabudget.com/ as the web version just isn't there y…

I tried to proof read everything, but if you found any typos, I'd be delighted if you could point them out!

"I was terrible wit keeping track of"

"healthier homemade meal (if planned)" (missing period at end of sentence)

"how much do you spend on" should be "how much you spend"

"when I’m not drinking (at all) alcohol my performance" should be "when I’m not drinking alcohol (at all) my performance" or "at all" could be changed to "any"

"do I waste on eg having drinks" should be "do I waste on, e.g., having drinks"

"and buy a bread" should be "and buy a loaf of bread"

"which I was eating while on the run. Turns out I’ve spent a lot of money on them" should be use a semicolon, like so: "while on the run; turns out..."

"In a blink f an eye" - of

"on the final straight" - final stretch

"on one category, It’ll point this" - "it'll" should not be capitalized

"you spend to much on for example entertainment, tighten" should be "too much on, for example, entertainment..."

"not rocket since" - rocket science

I really like your fundamental idea of choosing just a few simple categories you care about. Good tip.

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#48

Post by qwzybug »

koshyk wrote: post #33
qwzybug wrote: post #22

"I didn't have time to actually make or keep a budget, or learn anything about the topic, so I spent six months writing an app that is basically Mint, but slightly prettier, and worse." Don't ever change, tech dudes!

Well, I guess you can't tell for sure if it's worse than Mint before using it. If it's prettier (as you said) and its UI is more intuitive there's a chance it can be better, at least in some aspects. I guess you're right, I didn't have time to make a budget but have some to design an app because by doing this I learned a lot when it comes to design, and after all I earn money by designing things. So it's a win-win

Right back atcha, bro; your willful ignorance of the topic or any other solution is, I would say, a focus of your piece.

Done:

[x] Identify a problem ("overpaid millennial techies don't keep track of their spending because they just can't be arsed")

[x] Waste a bunch of time shipping a mobile app six people will ever use

[x] Write self-important, poorly-copyedited Medium post

These are the most visible parts of the design process, but they won't get you success unless you're reeeeeally good in a room with some pretty rich, dumb motherfuckers. (I am made to understand this is getting harder and harder lately.)

Not done:

[ ] Hard stuff?

[ ] Research design process: what else happens??? (The difficult, meaningful stuff no one really seems to give much of a shit about anymore. Except, of course, the people making good and interesting work that will actually matter a few years from now, and not just destroy a bunch of wealth and effort. But they don't write Medium posts.

Be more like them.

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#49

Post by sea6ear »

herge wrote: post #8

When I was a young single man, I had an effective way to track my personal finances. At the start of the month, I'd calculate how much money I had left over after fixed expenses (rent, internet, etc) and whatever savings I wanted for that week. I'd then divide that by 4, and 4 times a month, I'd withdraw that amount in cash from my account, and use that for discretionary spending like going out, groceries, etc. That…

I just went back to doing something like this. About a month ago I decided to try a "per diem" (per day amount).

So at the start of the week, I take out a lump withdrawal of spending money for the week, and then each day $40 gets divided into the following packets: Me ($10), Wife ($10), Kid1 ($5), Kid2 ($5), General ($10). Me and my wife don't have to justify what we spend our personal packets on, we can use or save it as we wish. However, we make our purchases from what we've accumulated in our packets. The kids money is earmarked for expenses dealing with them individually (diapers, wet wipes, allergen free food, etc). General is for things like gas or other items that apply to multiple people.

It's caused me to be a lot more conscious of what I'm spending money on. I won't frivolously spend the money earmarked for others, and for me it's kind of a game to see how much of my $10 I can save each day. So far the 6 month old is doing the best at saving, he just accumulates his $5/day most of the time - passive income for the win :).

Note: This only deals with "spending money". Our bills are treated as fixed monthly costs. However, it does include things like groceries, household items, eating out, gas, etc.

Since we started this about a month ago, we are for the first time in about 3 years actively saving, which for a single income family in a fairly high cost of living area (Juneau, Alaska), has been a wonderful change.

Re: How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving

#50

Post by sea6ear »

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #7

I try to spend around $600/mth on food, gas, drinks and other entertainment. This works out to roughly $20/day. I keep a running tally in my head day to day on what I've spent and try to stay around $20/day. This is not a great tracking method, but just having the idea of $20/day in the back of my head curbs my spending a great deal.

I wrote up my system in another thread - I do almost exactly the same thing, except it's $40 a day for me, my wife and 2 kids. The only difference is we actually "pay out" the money each day, and only spend from what we've accumulated from that day and previous days.
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