Comments on: Budgeting, Part II

By: branza

branza — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:03:18 +0000

@Jaime What do you eat that only costs $60/month? I think my budget is more like $30/week!

I am not trying to be flip. I am genuinely curious. Please tell me more about your food budget.

By: Chelsea Eales@facebook

Chelsea Eales@facebook — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:33:44 +0000

@Saralyn@twitter Another vote for Mint. I just started using it the other day, and it is really nice that you can see how you’re doing budget-wise from your phone.

By: lizziefresh

lizziefresh — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:52:40 +0000

@dj pomegranate I heart YNAB so much. Using it is the first time that I’ve attempted to get a handle on my finances that has actually stuck (4 months and counting! woo!). There is something about the interface and how it has you start thinking about money that really clicked for me. And somehow it’s making me really excited to not only not incure more debt, but pay down the debt I have? Not sure why?

I think if you are disciplined or spreadsheet minded, you could build something similar to this tool for free, but that is not where my strength is. Also I needed something I could maintain on my phone since I am terrible at sitting down and entering receipts etc after the fact. So check plus for that!

By: Jaime

Jaime — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:51:39 +0000

Ugh, Mint. Every time I’d pay to use the subway (on Boston’s MBTA), they’d classify it as “fast food.” So annoying! I don’t even like those fucking sandwiches!

Now I use an Excel spreadsheet. But the amount of money I have to spend each month is ingrained in my head so much that I don’t really look at it except when I need to see if I can handle significant life changes/expenses.

The twp things that really, REALLY made a difference in how much I was able to save and budget:
1. Making a list before going to the grocery store, and using a calculator before purchasing food to make sure I stay within my ridiculously small – but surprisingly manageable – budget of $60 a month (that’s $120 between two people, which helps things).
2. Packing my own lunch and making my own coffee. It changed my life. That’s easily $200 or more saved a month. I couldn’t believe it either. Also, once you get in the habit, it’s really easy (I’ve also always made my own breakfast and cook dinner most nights).

By: Jessica McLeod@twitter

Jessica McLeod@twitter — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:11:34 +0000

I was so inspired after reading The Billfold’s archives the other day that I wrote a blog post on how I manage my budget! This might be helpful for some folks? http://jessicamcleod.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/budgeting.html

By: dj pomegranate

dj pomegranate — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:19:33 +0000

I have mentioned this in the comments before, but I’ll say it again because I <3 it: You Need A Budget (YNAB.) Seriously you guys, it has made my life so much easier and better and more money-efficient! You do have to track manually sort of, but it also allows you to import the CSV file from your online banking. It also allows you to create a budget for future months–in fact, that is the whole point of the system–planning for next month using this month’s income. You can also choose your own categories, which I find very useful.

By: Saralyn@twitter

Saralyn@twitter — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:18:44 +0000

@Nina B.@twitter I, too, like Mint.com. Fair warning, though: It isn’t great for creating a budget for a future month. Say it’s April and you know that, in June, you’re moving, so you want to make separate budget for June. Mint doesn’t really let you do that (not to my satisfaction, anyway).

It is great, however, for letting me see a snapshot of all my accounts – credit card, savings, checking, and student loans – so I always have a reasonable idea of what my financial situation is. Also, the aforementioned ability to split transactions is so genius.

By: brinsonian

brinsonian — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:08:08 +0000

@Nina B.@twitter I like Mint.com. Well, I “like” Mint (in the begrudging sense, not in the Facebook sense). When it works well, it’s awesome–but when it’s buggy, it’s very frustrating. There isn’t a lot of customer support (no surprise, as it is a free service) and fixes are slow to come.

When it’s good, the things you get are: transactions automatically categorized (though I double-check all of them and manually adjust them often to split, say, a “grocery” charge into the “grocery, toiletries, and booze” categories it should be), snapshot graphics (net worth, expenses and income by sources, investments, etc.), and easily-trackable goals. I’m a big fan of targeted savings accounts (saving $x week/month/whatever in separate online savings accounts to save up for big purchases) and Mint plays nicely with those.

Bottom line is, any decent online tracking tool should give you the option to export all your transactions as a CSV (comma-separated value, essentially a super-basic Excel sheet). So if one service ends up not working for you, you can literally take your money somewhere else.

By: AnnieNilsson

AnnieNilsson — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:57:41 +0000

@dj pomegranate Likewise. Makes me feel like I’m a country.

By: Nina B.@twitter

Nina B.@twitter — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:10:47 +0000

Out of the online tracking tools, what might be the best for young graduates? I’m assuming each site has a bunch of options.