praisefor3 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 So far it seems too good to be true. We signed up for the 14 day trial and entered all our info. We believe in the Dave Ramsey approach but, frankly, we don't have the time or lifestyle to use actual envelopes. The way this links to our accounts and pulls in the info and then uses "virtual" envelopes will be fantastic if it really works. So much better than just a spreadsheet or actual envelopes. We already have automatic bill pay on most everything so this will log it when it comes out of our checking account. Anyway, just wondered if anyone else had used this program. I sure hope I am back on here in six months saying that it revolutionized our financial life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 No, we use Quicken, but I will bump this for you. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Some friends use It and love it. We di the Dave way and I use a Droid app called Easy Envelopes to track. It's free and super easy, with no links to your banking info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praisefor3 Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 There was definitely a time that I wouldn't have paid for this but seeing that we significantly increased our income a few years ago and are no better off financially made us know that we needed to do something different. It is amazing how money just "disappears". And, like I said, we just don't have the time for real envelopes. I was hesitant about linking our credit cards and bank accounts but since I (and millions of others as well as every big company out there) do online banking all the time we went ahead with it. You can skip that part but you would be missing out so much on the best features of the program that I don't think it would be worth it then. And PC magazine voted it "Top 100" in 2006 so I figured it had been well examined. If I hadn't watched the "tour" on their site I would have thought it was just another spreadsheet program. I was online at midnight with their live chat last night which was another nice feature. I was just shocked to see such a full program out there with all its capabilities since I hadn't heard about it before, so that's why I thought I'd ask here. A co-worker had to file bankruptcy this last week due to some tax and debt issues and it got me to thinking about whether we really were on top of things. Also reading the recent Dave Ramsey threads here emphasized to me that we were not as disciplined as we should be. I think it will also be a good marriage enhancer as I have the organization skills to handle the finances but DH has the leadership desire so this will satisfy my need to see it all organized and know that we actually have "a plan" but his need to be involved as well. An answer to prayer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeFe Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 We use pearbudget.com - it's kind of like a virtual envelope system. Nothing fancy. In fact, you can't auto-import anything. You have to enter every expense/income. I just take the time once a week to enter everything in and I find that's it's very eye-opening to have to log all of those receipts. I think it's changing the way we spend. We're kind of in the same boat as you. Income has significantly increased over the past 2 years but we were no better off. This is really helping. I've heard good things about Mvelopes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Wow! This looks cool! I have often wished for a virtual or online envelope system since I can't seem to manage cash envelopes on my own. I just don't like managing all that cash in real life, and something like Quicken seemed too difficult to set up. I should have known there was something out there. Question: When I googled "mvelopes" there's a main site, so I had to google "crown mvelopes" to get to the Crown Ministries website and find mvelopes there. Is there an advantage to going through Crown? We did take the Crown Ministries course last year and it was quite eye opening biblically, but didn't teach us much new stuff from what we had learned in Financial Peace. I have to go to the dentist (see, there's an expense I should have been saving for!!!) so I'll take the tour when I get home. Thanks for sharing about it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praisefor3 Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 From what I figured out...Mvelopes is owned, developed, given oversight by Crown. They use some (one? don't know) outside companies that do the bill paying, etc. So my guess is that whichever way you get there...it is still Crown's program. I didn't see it associated with anyone but them. I did google, too, since when you sign up there is a place for a promo code. I didn't find one though. We went ahead and signed up for the 2 year commitment after we took the tour as we felt like after 2 weeks we will know if this will really work for us or not. If it does, it truly will revolutionize how we handle our finances and we will stick with it - especially since it won't rely on us to enter expenses, etc. and keep up with. We use our debit card and one credit card that is set to pay off in full each month and we will see every transaction and just have to drag and drop them to the correct envelope. We have known the financial "facts" for quite sometime and have studied both Larry Burkett's old books and Dave Ramsey's stuff. We put our oldest DD through his homeschool course to get her started right. And after 22 years of marriage we've tried a lot of different systems from the old ledger sheets to Quicken but they all rely on one of us to enter it all and we just can't keep up with it. We also have never been able to see our finances "fluidly" changing each day with all the incoming and outgoing expenses all connected to each other on one sheet. You do have to take the tour to see the picture of its potential. Again, we are brand new to this so I"m sure there will be a kink here or there that we discover but so far...I am amazed at what this program has done so far and truly hope it is not too good to be true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyBlueLobsters Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Interesting! We went through Crown and never saw that. Is it new?? I don't want to do the real envelopes, I'd probably lose my purse or something! However, I like the concept. It's easier to stay in budget if you can actually see the money going away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketmaker Amy Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 We've been using it for about 3 years now and love it! It makes it easy to see where the money goes! I also like the funding and spending plan aspects of it. It has many features...some I probably won't use. I also use it to reconcile my checking account. It works SO much better than Money did for me. I highly recommend it! Good luck! Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I just heard about it this weekend from a friend who swears by it and says it's worth every penny. I would love a free program like this...not sure if I'm ready to spend the money on it though. I guess it depends on how desperate we get--we're making more money these days but our expenses are higher, and it's getting harder and harder to keep track of everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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