Favorite Budgeting Program

[mommyoftwinboys]

I'm looking for a budgeting program. I currently use pad and pencil and would love something computerized. The thing is our income changes monthly. My husband is a sales director and our income can change by as much as $1000 a month. We , of course, budget for the lowest he makes and go from there. Do you have a favorite budget software or online program that would work?

[Lynnette in WA]

I'm having good luck with You Need A Budget. Their system is kind of an envelope system, and "One of the goals of YNAB is to stop living paycheck to paycheck by living on last month's income." It's working quite well so far.

[happypamama]

I love Quicken, preferably an older version (mine is 2001 -- very cheap on e-bay). I tried a newer version and hated it; I can't remember what it was exactly, but the older one lets me tell it how much should be spent in each category (food, gas, etc.), and the new one didn't do that, exactly, or something like that. Quicken lets me download transactions from my bank, and then I assign them to each category. I can keep a running total of how I'm doing in each category per month too. I can also keep separate little accounts in Quicken -- one for each month's budget (and you can set up each month separately if your income changes month to month), one for Christmas expenses, one for each person's personal spending money, etc.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

My hubby made us a spreadsheet on Google Docs. We put in the check amount, and when you put in your expenses, it automatically tells you how much is left. I can share it with any who are interested. :001_smile:

[Cinder]

Dh is the budget guy here and he likes Money Matters from Crown Financial Ministries. It took a few months to get it tweaked so that it works for us. Dh is also a long time paper ledger user and we've used MM for over 5 years now.

[Katherine A.]

My hubby made us a spreadsheet on Google Docs. We put in the check amount, and when you put in your expenses, it automatically tells you how much is left. I can share it with any who are interested. :001_smile:

 

I'm intrested :D We've been looking for a Budgeting Program other then pencil & paper too :001_smile:

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I'm intrested :D We've been looking for a Budgeting Program other then pencil & paper too :001_smile:

 

PM me your email address and I will share it with you. Have you ever used Google Docs?

[carlamom2ansnm]

I'm having good luck with You Need A Budget. Their system is kind of an envelope system, and "One of the goals of YNAB is to stop living paycheck to paycheck by living on last month's income." It's working quite well so far.

 

I ADORE YNAB.com!! They have a fabulous philosophy, especially if you get varied amounts of income (dh gets hourly, overtime, salary, bonuses, etc). It gets you to living off of LAST month's income so you always know exactly how much income you have to work with. I'd been trying to do this same thing myself for years and I just never got it exactly how I wanted it. YNAB did it for me :). Plus, it's pretty darn cheap!

[Peela]

I'm having good luck with You Need A Budget. Their system is kind of an envelope system, and "One of the goals of YNAB is to stop living paycheck to paycheck by living on last month's income." It's working quite well so far.

 

I have YNAB and while i am not actually using it currently (or anything else), I have adopted the strategy of living off last month's income and that is really working well for me.

[abacus2]

Another vote for YNAB. Another poster mentioned downloading bank transactions; YNAB lets you do this.