Best way to track budget?

[Aggie2008]

I want to reach out and see how fellow mustachians are tracking their budget? I am currently using the old pen and paper, but am looking for a more efficient way. Any and all idea welcome!

[Will]

YNAB

http://www.youneedabudget.com/

[pac_NW]

Just bought Quicken 2014 from Costco to get a real view on expenses and the tool auto created a budget that I could then tailor. It's been years since I used Quicken. Very pleased I invested the time.  The spending and budget tabs have  been very illuminating.

[CpaMe]

I have kept a budget using excel for the past 5 years or so.  Usually takes about 10 minutes a week to update.  I have it configured so that the spreadsheet automatically tracks my total expenses versus my budgeted expenses broken down into different categories.  I just need to enter in each expense into excel and type in which category the spreadsheet should categorize the expense as.  You can go to Fiverr.com and look around at some of the budgets people are selling online (for $5).  I have one listed but if you go that route I'll let you look around and pick for yourself which one you like the best.  Also mint.com has gotten pretty popular and some of my friends use that to keep track as well.

[arebelspy]

I check my spending at Mint.com every once in awhile.

If I wanted to create a proactive budget,which I don't, I like just monitoring spending rather than micromanaging it, I'd look at YNAB.

[ozzage]

YNAB!

[Kristin]

I think my bank provides the best budget tracker for me.

PNC Virtual Wallet https://www.pnc.com/virtual-wallet

I have tried Mint for years, and it just takes a bit too much time to customize and stay updated in my opinion.

I like PNC's platform because it automatically puts your purchases into categories and you can set as many budgets as you want.
You can set up alerts, create reports, etc.  The same goes for savings tools.  You can set savings goals and break up allocations for each goal within one savings account.

I promise I don't work for PNC :).  But in the northeast, they are very prominent, have great customer service, and they don't charge me any fees.  I appreciate all of those things.

Hope this helps!

[chasesfish]

I have kept a budget using excel for the past 5 years or so.  Usually takes about 10 minutes a week to update.  I have it configured so that the spreadsheet automatically tracks my total expenses versus my budgeted expenses broken down into different categories.  I just need to enter in each expense into excel and type in which category the spreadsheet should categorize the expense as.  You can go to Fiverr.com and look around at some of the budgets people are selling online (for $5).  I have one listed but if you go that route I'll let you look around and pick for yourself which one you like the best.  Also mint.com has gotten pretty popular and some of my friends use that to keep track as well.

^ What he said.  Open Office Calc (the free version of Excel) has kept my budget for more than 10 years

[sunshine]

YNAB

http://www.youneedabudget.com/

yep, YNAB

[Le0]

From what I can see there are 4 main options.

- Excel
- Full Tax/ Budget Software (Quicken)
- Mint
- YNAB

Excel is the DIY'ers cheap & functional like your pen and paper for the computer.

The Full Tax/ Budget Software its a fantastic option, once you learn how to use it it will do everything for you.

Mint is the most relaxed method, as it does its very best to auto categorize your spending. However I would caution relying on mint if you don't have a handle on your spending. Mint is the Report Card of the Budget world, and it will give you a bad grade if you spend outside of your budget.

YNAB is the Mobile App/ Desktop App for budgeting. Does a little of the Full tax/ Budget software stuff, and a little of Mints stuff (however YNAB is not automatic). Very strong in the actually budgeting aspects.

My personal recommendation is to use YNAB until such time as MINT is all you need. Also check out YNAB's free online courses for an explanation of the YNAB method, made a huge difference for me. http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/training-and-education

[Aggie2008]

Thanks guys, I am going to try YNAB for a few months and see how it goes. If not, I'll try another route.

[JessieImproved]

I've tried so many things over the years, but Mint is the only thing I've been able to keep up with.  I'm too lazy/distracted to proactively monitor my expenses, so I like something I can just go look at when I want to.

[RootofGood]

I use Personal Capital now.  I used to use a manual spreadsheet but that took quite a bit of time at the end of each month (and I'm lazy).

Personal Capital isn't exactly budgeting software, it just tracks what you spend.  But it also reports all your income.  And tracks all your investments. 

Mr Money Mustache's review here:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/10/11/personal-capital-the-investors-version-of-mint/

My own review here:
http://rootofgood.com/simplest-way-to-manage-investments-spending-and-income-personal-capital/

Personal Capital is free.  It works and was really easy to set up with our ~30 different accounts.

For tracking expenses, one complaint is that I can't split an expense into 2 categories.  Like a visit to walmart - I might spend $50 - $40 on groceries and $10 on clothes for the kids.  I can only put it in the groceries or clothes category.  You can't enter a manual cash expense either - it's just "ATM Withdrawal", although you could categorize the cash withdrawal if it was for something specific (however my cash is usually spent $5-10-20 at a time on different categories from a $100 ATM withdrawal).  The downside to automation.  But it only takes 2 minutes to review a month's transactions and modify 2-3 that might not have the best category.  And they show nifty charts and graphs. 

I have heard Personal Capital is like Mint but with better investment tracking, but I confess to never having tried Mint.

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Thanks guys, I am going to try YNAB for a few months and see how it goes. If not, I'll try another route.

Make sure you fully understand the methodology behind YNAB.  Learn what you are doing and why you are doing it.  They have plenty of classes (recorded and live) to watch.  Also the forums are a great source of help.

It's an awesome tool to plan your finances with if you understand the actual methodology.  The methodology is more important than the actual software.  Heck, if you just learn the methodology, you could create your own spreadsheet system for free if you really wanted to.

[aglassman]

My biggest gripe with Mint is that it becomes unreliable with multiple accounts and CCs.  If you pay off a credit card with your bank account, or transfer money around, your totals start to get out of whack.  I've been using Google Docs Spreadsheet, and have made a pretty elaborate doc that uses a timer to log a history of my monthly expense, net worth, cash flow, assets, and liabilities.  It works well, and helps me learn more about personal finance along the way!

[pianogineer]

I've been using Google Docs Spreadsheet, and have made a pretty elaborate doc that uses a timer to log a history of my monthly expense, net worth, cash flow, assets, and liabilities.  It works well, and helps me learn more about personal finance along the way!

Not to hijack the thread, but can you provide more info on this "timer"? I do something similar manually with my investment Google spreadsheet. I have all of my investments listed, pulling current day's pricing using Google Finance function calls, which tracks my holdings against my desired asset allocation. I then manually copy total holdings/values over to another sheet (values only, due to unreliability of Google Finance function calls with historical dates) to track my total investments over time. Would love to introduce more automation into this process though...

[aglassman]

I've been messing with Google Apps Script.  If you're familiar with Excel's VB Macros, this basically like that, except it's JavaScript rather than VB.

First, you write the script, and you can test run it from the Google Doc.  Then once you are happy with the result, you can set it to go off at a scheduled interval.

https://developers.google.com/apps-script/understanding_triggers#TimeTriggers

Here is my current script.  Note that this was for my eyes only, so I just kind of hacked it together.

https://gist.github.com/aglassman/7644037

[mpbaker22]

I think my bank provides the best budget tracker for me.

PNC Virtual Wallet https://www.pnc.com/virtual-wallet

I have tried Mint for years, and it just takes a bit too much time to customize and stay updated in my opinion.

I like PNC's platform because it automatically puts your purchases into categories and you can set as many budgets as you want.
You can set up alerts, create reports, etc.  The same goes for savings tools.  You can set savings goals and break up allocations for each goal within one savings account.

I promise I don't work for PNC :).  But in the northeast, they are very prominent, have great customer service, and they don't charge me any fees.  I appreciate all of those things.

Hope this helps!

I would not recommend PNCs budgeting software.  It's basically a joke.  Does a fraction of what mint does, but only does it on the account(s) you have at PNC.

[ArcticaMT6]

We use a combination of MINT and the envelope method.

All of our "discretionary" spending (food, gas, going out, doing fun things, etc) comes out in cash every 2 weeks. When that cash runs out, we're done spending until the next 2 week cycle.

[aglassman]

I wanted to do something similar but with those re-loadable Visa gift cards.  The re-load cost was prohibitive though.  I may try this simpler idea of cash, what a concept eh!?

[Melody]

I use excel...But I track expenditure rather than budget, so I am not sure if that makes a difference.
It's a front schedule linked to 12 Backup schedules (Jan-Dec) using Vlookups for categories. I wanted something really simple. Mine holds "Description,$, category" on each month's tab only. I tried quicken and felt it was way to slow to use. I have 14 categories and I have above/below the line categories. Above the line is essential/non variable stuff (rent, electric, mobile phone, internet, health insurance etc) and below the line is everything else - aka discretionary - (including groceries as I could technically go a few weeks eating just stuff in my pantry if I needed to)... I focus on the below the line stuff monthly (how can I cut category x?) but only review above the line yearly (comparison shop insurance, phone etc). I aim to keep below the line to $1k/month unless there is a significant >$100 (planned) expense in the holiday, hobby, gadgets or homewares category. (I have approx yearly amounts allocated to these categories - e.g. a planned upgrade of hobby equipment or a planned holiday and an approximate value. These are decided at the start of the year. Next year a holiday, new skates and a tablet are on the cards.)
I don't like strict budgets, so an overall budget for discretionary works for me. Some months I might want to spend lots of money on clothes, if this is the case I cut back to going out budget etc etc. This way I still feel free not restricted. I think I'd feel sad if the cute shoes were not in the budget, but I'm ok with going out one less night in the month or cutting back my grocery spend to have them, so I stick to my overall budget...

[Richard3]

I just have a free iphone app that I input my spending (amount and category) into. It was called something like spending tracker. It also tracks income so I can check I am going to make a "profit" this month or not.

It's pretty simple but works for me - there's some reporting built in (breakdown by categories and monthly spending) which is all I need.

[Will]

The thing that always gets me with threads like this is how people equate budgets with expense tracking.  They are not the same thing!  A budget is a plan or a map.  Expense tracking is more like a picture of something that has already happened.  I know that title of this is "Best way to track budget?"  but you don't really track a budget; you track your spending, which Mint and Quicken and Excel spreadsheets are fine for.  Having categories and a plan for your money requires a better tool.  I've written in other threads before about how it is possible to use a wrench as a hammer and a plier as a screwdriver (or something similar) but that does not make them the best tools for the jobs.  YNAB is designed for budgeting and does an awesome job.

[aj_yooper]

YNAB has been very helpful to us.  It is very easy to set up, but it is bestl to listen to their videos about setting up cc, non-budget assets, etc.  They have phone apps that make tracking spending very easy.  They also have a YNAB blog, but many here can answer questions on it.  As said above, it helps focus spending.  The reports are helpful.

If you get it, buy through someone on the blog and you will save $6 and the link person gets the same. 

[NinetyFour]

I have used my own Excel spreadsheet for almost two years now.  I like it a lot.  It's free (software obtained through work).  I can make whatever changes I want to it.  I use it for both planning (setting goals) and tracking expenses.  I have another spreadsheet for changes in my net worth, another spreadsheet for...well, you get the idea...lots of spreadsheets.

[irrational]

I have used my own Excel spreadsheet for almost two years now.  I like it a lot.  It's free (software obtained through work).  I can make whatever changes I want to it.

I'll second Excel.

I like, and use Mint, but the biggest hurdle I have with it has been it's inability to allow bi-weekly budgets.  Most of my expenses are monthly (mortgage, student loan, electric bill, etc)... however, over the years I've found it easier to budget gas & groceries on a bi-weekly schedules (we eat & drive more in longer months, lol). Mint's inability to handle this is disappointing, and I simply just use Mint as a means of tracking net worth and seeing an aggregate of all my accounts.

I use it for both planning (setting goals) and tracking expenses.  I have another spreadsheet for changes in my net worth, another spreadsheet for...well, you get the idea...lots of spreadsheets.

This is what I do as well (though I simply have mine broken out into tabs). I have a tab for calculators, one for net worth tracking, and the main tab for my monthly budget. I love the flexibility it offers me.

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

The thing that always gets me with threads like this is how people equate budgets with expense tracking.  They are not the same thing!  A budget is a plan or a map.  Expense tracking is more like a picture of something that has already happened.  I know that title of this is "Best way to track budget?"  but you don't really track a budget; you track your spending, which Mint and Quicken and Excel spreadsheets are fine for.  Having categories and a plan for your money requires a better tool.  I've written in other threads before about how it is possible to use a wrench as a hammer and a plier as a screwdriver (or something similar) but that does not make them the best tools for the jobs.  YNAB is designed for budgeting and does an awesome job.

I agree with this 100% on the budgeting vs tracking.  I don't have the time or patience to create a Spreadsheet system of my own.  YNAB has been the perfect tool for me to plan my finances.

[eyePod]

My wife and I always had "enough," but never made any headway. YNAB changed that.  We tried a BUNCH of different budgeting software/spreadsheets (pear budget, mint, my own scary spreadsheet).  We are on the exact same page with all of our finances because everything syncs right away.  We couldn't love it more and we're giving it as a gift to the younger sister-in-law who has a lot of trouble with money.


PM me if you're gonna purchase it, since I can save you $6 and myself $6!

[islndstrm]

We use a combination of MINT and the envelope method.

All of our "discretionary" spending (food, gas, going out, doing fun things, etc) comes out in cash every 2 weeks. When that cash runs out, we're done spending until the next 2 week cycle.

This is what we just started doing.  Used YNAB for nearly a year, but just couldn't keep up with the manual aspect.