Budget Software

[maryinaz]

I know this has been posted about before, but has anyone seen any coupons/discounts for any kind of budget software? I thought maybe being a new year, there might be some incentives out there.

The only ones I remember are ynab and mint - what else is there?

I'm having trouble convincing DH that we need to *buy* something to help with our budget, so it would help if I could get something with a discount.

TIA!

[Julie Billingsley]

you can't get cheaper than free! Check out Dave Ramsey's Budget Lite but for the real meat of budgeting, you have to pay to use his full budget. BUT you can download the forms and do it with paper and pencil for free! We love the Cash Flow plan.

My husband tried out YNAB and ended up returning it. They have a free trial to see if it is for you. The issue with YNAB was you can't pre-budget your income to plan for your next paycheck. The YNAB people wrote my husband a nice letter about that problem, but it is not something they are planning on "fixing".

[Julie Billingsley]

I was nosing around Dave Ramsey's website more and just discovered this downloadable budget software for less than $19. I haven't tried it but my husband thinks we might download it soon. We already use his plan just on paper, so this would be nice to do it on the computer.

[maryinaz]

Thanks Julie - I will check out Dave Ramsey's software. And good tip on the ynab as I was seriously thinking about that one (except DH didn't want to spend $60 ).

[Nettio]

I think it depends what you're trying to do with your budget. Is there something about your budget that doesn't currently work for you? There are a bunch of different programs out there, some that are online, others that you can download but they all have slightly different takes on budgeting. And of course, there is always an Excel spreadsheet - we used one for several years. Software-wise, I'm still a fan of YNAB even if Julie's DH didn't end up liking it, hehe.

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

you can't get cheaper than free! Check out Dave Ramsey's Budget Lite but for the real meat of budgeting, you have to pay to use his full budget. BUT you can download the forms and do it with paper and pencil for free! We love the Cash Flow plan.

My husband tried out YNAB and ended up returning it. They have a free trial to see if it is for you. The issue with YNAB was you can't pre-budget your income to plan for your next paycheck. The YNAB people wrote my husband a nice letter about that problem, but it is not something they are planning on "fixing".

Yeah, I had a feeling I wasn't going to sway him to keep it after I talked to you since what he was wanting to do really went counter to the foundation of their software. I tried a bunch of different programs before I found YNAB so I definitely understand all about finding the right one for what you're looking to do. Hope he's found something else he loves!

[maryinaz]

Uh, well, our money just slips through our fingers and we don't always know where it goes. Doesn't help when we have 2 boys going "I need gas" or "can you give me money so I can go eat with my friends" etc. Especially when one is up at college and asking for money for books, food, extra fees, whatever. And then there are things like National Honor Society fees I didn't know about, and class t-shirts for weekly spirit week, and well, I could go on and on. I'm scared for when the other 2 boys start having their own lives!

I did want to do it online originally, but you are right, I need to find the one that works for us. Maybe I need to search for a comparison of budget software.

[KateD]

I've been using YNAB since around Thanksgiving and I love it! I've tried Quicken, Mint, and just using a spreadsheet, and this software has been the easiest to use, by far. I'll admit that it took a bit of adjustment in my thinking to do the budget their way, but now it makes it so much easier for me. My husband can't look at it though, because he doesn't think that way. It makes for some interesting conversations about our finances! I was lucky to snag a coupon, which I guess they don't do very often, but it would have been well worth it even without the coupon. You could always download the free trial if you're interested in trying it out. I think the trial is for a bit longer than a month (so that you can be sure to see how the end-beginning month transition works.