I use EveryDollar; it ticks most of our boxes, but it's not a ledger (it doesn't give me any confidence that I didn't make an error in my allocations). Still, it's good for planning and trcking. They also have a $10/month premium plan (which I use) that automatically pulls in transactions (a la Mint) but I don't get the spammy adverts and they had a much better privacy policy last I checked. Still, it's SaaS...
Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
11–20 of 76 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#12I've been using YNAB for about 6 or 7 years I think. I really enjoy the software and the ideology behind it. It's helped me quite a bit.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#13Built an ad-hoc system using flask, Google Spreadsheets, and Twilio (where I work) that my wife and I have been using for 18 months now -- far longer than any other system has stuck. - budget tab: tracks category + allocated budget for the month - expenses tab: tracks date, amount, category, description - when we spend money, my wife and I text, eg, "13.31 restaurants lunch at chipotle" to a Twilio number. A flask ap…
What is it about this system that you like better than YNAB? (new or 4)
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#14Gnucash, but I haven't gotten the hang of it's budget features yet. Most budgeting is done in a spreadsheet. Cash in --> Cash out, line by line.
I found Gnucash to be difficult to use.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#15The biggest problem that I find with programs like mint is that they aren't real time. Even my bank accounts aren't current. They often lag 24 hours, so when I look it may seem like I have more than what I do ... so I guess (often wrong, or forget something) what I spent the day before and try to mentally assign that amount to different categories (like groceries, Transportation, restaurants, etc).
Does anyone know software that can keep real time accounting of my personal expenses?
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#16I use EveryDollar; it ticks most of our boxes, but it's not a ledger (it doesn't give me any confidence that I didn't make an error in my allocations). Still, it's good for planning and trcking. They also have a $10/month premium plan (which I use) that automatically pulls in transactions (a la Mint) but I don't get the spammy adverts and they had a much better privacy policy last I checked. Still, it's SaaS...
I second EveryDollar. It allows your budget to be flexible month-to-month because spending in different categories will always ebb and flow.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#17I use Personal Capital and really think it's a great piece of software. If you're worried about a cloud solution that has access to your financials, you might as well use a spreadsheet. I'm pretty sure YNAB (You Need a Budget) does not require cloud storage of personal information.
They discontinued YNAB4 so unless you already have a license then you're out of luck. Their new system is SAAS.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#18Yes, YNAB, it rocks: https://www.youneedabudget.com/
They have an opinionated, cult following that seems a bit weird at first, but if you approach the situation with humility and the real need to budget you'll realize YNAB is really good. You want opinionated software when it comes to something like budgeting. You want a system you buy into and has been proven to work, not a system that lets you do anything how you want.
If you tried YNAB before and didn't jive with it, try it again. The new version they released about 6 months ago was a really good update.
It's $5/mo. The software is simple but works. The mobile app is good. The bank syncing is as good as it can be. Realizing how using a credit card for most payments affects your budgeting process is tricky at first, but that's because it's a tricky thing to account for. YNAB make it pretty easy to make credit card payments mesh with your actual budget.
The founder wrote a decent book: https://www.amazon.com/You-Need-Budget-Paycheck-Paycheck-ebo...
Re: cloud solutions accessing your bank account—the benefits outweigh the risks. Living without a budget is very expensive because it's so easy to spend money on things you don't actually care about instead of things you do care about.
- The benefit of having a budget long-term is probably hundreds of thousands of dollars, and getting the things you want out of having money vs. haphazardly blowing money. - The risks of a budgeting company screwing up with your cloud data is real, but doesn't outweigh the great benefits.
I've also been tracking this company which is building a pretty slick looking desktop app: https://medium.com/actualbudget http://actualbudget.com/ https://twitter.com/actualbudget
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#19Bought YNAB for a year ($50) -- heard great things but then couldn't get it to work. It massively helps if you can get your bank to sync transactions with your budget but at the time YNAB didn't have a script for my bank (N26) so made the whole endevour somewhat 'manual'.
So anyone thinking of going for that software my recommendation is to check for such a script is available/easy to use/maintain with your bank first -- then proceed.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use budgeting software?
#20I use YNAB (You Need A Budget). I don't really keep a strict budget. Just a loose idea of how much I want to spend and use i to track my spending more than anything else.
I like the software a lot, but the subscription model really turns me off. I am grandfathered in to the $40/yr plan from last year so I'm going to keep using it.
I don't link any of my bank accounts, because I feel like it defeats the purpose of budgeting. I love manually inputing my transactions. It makes me feel more connected to my finances and makes me more mindful of my spending.