Hi all,
Looking to get some insight into how my fellow OzB community approaches budgeting.
Excel? Paper book? or an App?
Whichever your choice let me know and share any suggestions you may have.
Thanks
How do you Budget?
LemonShapedRock on 12/06/2017 - 21:43
Comments
I don't budget I'm frugal!
I spend less than or equal to the available balance of my account.
This comment is perfect! It baffles me the amount of people who can not understand this simple concept!
YNAB. It changed my life. Big call but couldn't be without it. Don't just look at the software. Look at their philosophy behind budgeting. Wish someone had got me onto it as a teenager.
The philosophy looks awesome, shame it isn't all free.
Recommend Waveapps (free) for software to complement. Similar to what YNAB offers and is better for your budget. Just disregard the business setup and use the 'Personal' section.
Wow Waveapps looks amazing! How did you find out about it? Makes the $10/month Zoho Invoice EXTREMELY expensive in comparison.
By the way,does it plug in (feed transactions from) Australian banks?
Auto-feed works with Australian banks, even smaller credit unions.
Works great for my retiring folks, set up feeds for their bank accounts, mortgages and credit cards easily. Even auto allocates transactions from the bigger chain stores which is a nice touch.
Originally came across it doing some research for a client (disclaimer: accountant) and worth noting the business section is great for small business and community organisations as well.
If required, paying for support and payroll functions are the only catches.
@mcnugget: Very cool! Is there anywhere that shows which banks/cards are supported? Manually importing transactions from 5 bank accounts and 4 credit cards can get very tedious, especially when some don't support the QFX format!
@AncientWisdom: Haven't come across it, imagine it would be around somewhere. Only takes a couple minutes to sign up and plug in details for a few feeds, so would be just as easy to try it out.
In my experience supported a couple of small local credit unions and NAB, so give it a good chance of working.
you can get YNAB for pretty cheap when it goes on sale on Steam.
and yes, Steam does more than just sell games, they sell apps too
Do you know of a way to be notified of a sale? Also didn't know they still sold YNAB classic.
If you want mobile notifications, install the Steam app on your phone and then search for YNAB in the store, then add it to the Wish list.
Works the same way on PC, just login to your account, add YNAB to wishlist.
Wave looks amazing. Only missing a mobile app (or a mobile friendly website).
Look at Mint by Intuit - similar to YNAB but more intuitive and free (mint.com).
I have used this for about 10 years now, not only does it do your overall position but also works out cash flow for the more difficult months like when land tax / shire rates hit.
https://www.amp.com.au/data/calculators/budget-planner-sprea…
I am comfortable with Excel therefore I use this one.
But as with all budgets they need to be reviewed often, expenses and income changes over time.
Looks good; how did you find it?
Someone else recommended it to me when I was working in that sort of industry.
thx for that, i had this many years ago, but lost it somewhere.
I try to bargain and in everyday life I do well. It's the stupidly cheap airfares and subsequent holiday spending that screws everything over.
YNAB. It does require commitment and dedication though (I think any form of budget does). Like mentioned previously the philosophy is awesome. I do fall off the wagon sometimes so to speak but try and jump back up as soon as I can. That reminds me I need to do my budget for the month :-)
I use an app called Spending Tracker on my iphone. It provides you a pie-chart showing where your expenses are going and then you can adjust your expense accordingly. I also use another one called Our expenses to keep track of our expenses as a couple. It clearly shows who paid and who owes.
I only buy things that are listed on Ozbargain.
Spreadsheet for a year ahead, count in car registration, insurances, etc and the month they fall in. Same with quarterly bills. Then you know how much to keep aside from the other months.
Then stick to it.
I do this as well.
Google Sheets. Can access it from anywhere anytime.
Mint isn't available in Australia? And similarly, YNAB doesn't sync with any Australian financial institutes (if they did, that would be killer).
I use an excel sheet that I keep in dropbox personally but I cam across this the other day which is pretty good. You can download in excel form and customise too https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculator…
Buy the Scott Pape book The Barefoot Investor. Best finance book ever.
I use an excel sheet with my different bank accounts/credit cards, as well as a sheet for income and expenses. I actually wouldn't recommend it as I do it all manually because I enjoy it. There are much simpler, more automated ways to keep a budget if you want something comparatively effortless, like apps or excel formulas.
I developed database in Access long time ago and still using that. I have to enter the records manually but I don't want to keep my spending details on some website server. Google is enough for sending ads/emails based on my use.
I use YNAB and the Barefoot Investor books.
On both fronts using YNAB you kind of need to be on the ball keeping a record of your spending to see what is going in and out, good if you are fairly strict on what you spend.
However I found that Scott Pape's method which is more set and forget a lot easier to run with.
Essentially your pay is divided out into 4 accounts and you spend from 1 account, can't spend what you don't have in that case!
A few months ago i started using a free phone app made by ASIC, called TrackMySpend. Not only is it not as clunky as government apps usually are, it's actually been really helpful. There are both android & apple versions, it's simple to use, and I find it has as many capabilities as I need. I just have to get better at remembering to input my spending data at the time!
ETA link: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculator…
I use a software named 'AceMoney'. Link here —> http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/personal-finance-so…
It is more of expense tracking with limited budgeting capabilities.
As stated in one of the above comments, you need to track all of your cash in/out diligently. Works for me…
I used to use Excel years ago, but now I use my head. :)
People ask me what my fashion style is
I say whatevers on sale
What people ask you that?
Just wanted to jump back on here to thank both the OP as well as the people that suggested to read the Brefoot Investor. It's spurred me to do some serious financial house cleaning, I am feeling much better the way I manage my financials now.
If I had to re-answer the OP now it would be:
I use the Barefoot method for my "budget" (it's not really a budget which is what makes it so awesome). His accounts system let me spend my money safely knowing that I am not overspending and am still working on reaching my long term goals. I also track my spend through the use of PocketSmith which integrates (through Yodlee) into most if not all Australian financial institutes for effortless transaction imports. All that is left at each week is to categorise my transactions (that haven't auto categorised) and check my spend against the different buckets.What I love about this system is:
- Even if I don't use PocketSmith it still works
- PocketSmith took some configuring but it's now a great financial dashboard for me to see in one place all my affairsWhat I don't like:
- PocketSmith budgeting functionality. Maybe it's because I am a YNABer at heart, but I just can't make it work for me. (doesn't matter though as I don't really need it with the barefoot method)I also going to try using Wave Apps for my business this financial year (also recommended on this thread). It's a surprisingly (for a free service) well rounded product, I like it allot. I did feel its personal budgeting side was a little light for me but could work well (for free!) for someone with simpler financials.
Live long and prosper :-)
Any recommendations for Android?
In my head