Budget Apps?

littlemushroom · November 2015

Does anyone use a particular budgeting app for Android that you really like? What features do you find most helpful? There are so many out there that I thought a recommendation from someone using it would be helpful.

We want to start tracking more closely where our money is going. We are debt free except for our mortgage. We want to get down to the nitty gritty of planning for retirement and will be adding in some new expenses soon, so seeing where we can do better with spending is a high priority.

julieanne912 · November 2015

I'm not sure about Android availability, but I use mint.com to track my expenses. For my budget, I just use a google doc spreadsheet, but Mint offers a function for that as well. Mint.com has an app on the iphone so I'm sure it'd have an Android as well.

I like that it starts to "remember" what categories things go in. Like here, the highway toll company shows up on credit card statements as "Express Stop". At first, mint was counting it as a gas expense, cause Express Stop sounds like a gas station. But after a few months of me changing it to "tolls" it started to remember that from then on.

labro · November 2015

We use You Need a Budget (YNAB), but I don't think it's the "favorite" one around TK. I personally like the zero dollar aspect of it (every dollar we spend/save has a place), and I like that unlike Mint, I'm not syncing up with any of my bank accounts or credit cards automatically and facing a potential data breach.

We have a category for everything and it's clear when we've overspent in a category (like groceries for example), and when we spend less than what we've budgeted, the leftover budgeted amount rolls over into the next month. It also forces me to be diligent about entering in my expenditures so I feel much much more aware of every credit card swipe for lunch, or a new pair of shoes, or whatever.

We're in a similar place right now. H and I are focusing on maxing out our retirement savings, and we're really close to being free of our student loans (the plan is by the end of next year). AT that point we'll be totally debt free except for our mortage.

luckya23 · November 2015

I've used mint.com for about 7-8 years now, so there is a lot of data on me in there at this point! Since we are in FPU, I started using everydollar.com to create a zero based budget and I translate that into the mint website so it syncs with my accounts... but now that we are using much more cash, there are a lot of holes! Everydollar doesn't have an android app, though, so that's why I have to translate it.

littlemushroom · November 2015

Thank you so much for the replies!

Does the mint app require you to sync with accounts? Like @labro I am nervous about the potential for a data breach. I think I would rather enter things myself, especially since it will make me pay more attention to our spending.

I think I read somewhere that you need to have paid for the YNAB program in order to use the app. Is that right? I was interested in checking that one out, but the price point seemed to be pretty high if we had to purchase the program before the app would work.

I think I may have found an app that does exactly what we need it to and is pretty easy to use. It is called Home Budget Manager. It lets us back up the info and sync to other devices, has reports comparing income to budget to savings, and keeps a running total of the categories we budget in so we can see how we are doing in each category.

labro · November 2015

There is a license fee for YNAB. Something like $60. But we were able to do a free trial for a week or two I feel like to test it out and see if we liked it or not. It was definitely $$$ for just a budget app but it's what has worked for us so far.

julieanne912 · November 2015

littlemushroom said:

Thank you so much for the replies! Does the mint app require you to sync with accounts? Like @labro I am nervous about the potential for a data breach. I think I would rather enter things myself, especially since it will make me pay more attention to our spending. I think I read somewhere that you need to have paid for the YNAB program in order to use the app. Is that right? I was interested in checking that one out, but the price point seemed to be pretty high if we had to purchase the program before the app would work. I think I may have found an app that does exactly what we need it to and is pretty easy to use. It is called Home Budget Manager. It lets us back up the info and sync to other devices, has reports comparing income to budget to savings, and keeps a running total of the categories we budget in so we can see how we are doing in each category.

Mint doesn't require you to link the accounts to use it, but I don't believe it can keep track of your expenses without linking. You can set budgets etc. without linking though.

sparklepants41 · November 2015

Sorry for getting off track, but part of me was hoping this thread was about appetizers...

AprilH81 · November 2015

I use Good Budget (free app for iPhone, available on Droid but not sure if it is free).

It is a virtual envelope budgeting system. The free version gives you 10 regular envelopes (monthly expenses) and 10 irregular expenses (I used these for savings goals). I've used it for 4ish years now and I really like it.

They also have a website and it can sync with multiple devices so you and your DH can have accurate info any time you open the app.

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