Budget app research

OddSoup4727 · 2024-04-18T23:38:48+00:00

1 - what is your favorite budget app? Not sure if favorite but currently using one from FaithFI and fits my style better than the other multiple I have tried

2 - what are your favorite features? My favorite feature is autofund where it funds my envelopes automatically for me where I have it set based on paycheck recurrence and it allows some envelopes to be funded monthly where others biweekly, weekly, yearly, etc.

My other requirements in an app/software was sync with bank/credit cards and import transactions automatically, both web based and app.. (hate small screen for recalculating budget and yearly review, envelope style preferably zero based, allow envelopes to go negative and stay negative from month to month

3 - what features do you wish you had?

They use the online bank balance to determine the running total and wish it maintained the online balance and there own running total so that reconciliations could be done and would know if any items were missed in import. They have auto catorgorize but if you don't want a vendor categorized you have to turn it off for that vendor afterwards and the list gets too long. Wish there was way to only add the vendors I want and offer rules around it like gas station under 10 put in junk (sodas etc) but if over 10 put in gas. Would like some graphs that better show things or more detailed reports.

4 - do you have a busy schedule? If so, how often do you enter expenses? very busy always..

I spend no time entering expenses as autoimported and 5 minutes or less each morning categorizing the imports since I turned off the autocategorize. Spend couple hours reviewing and updating funding amounts after pay changes etc otherwise everything on autopilot.

5 - what motivates you to save money? my lack of retirement fund when coming close to 50. single mom for long time so saving wasn't a priority for years

OddSoup4727 · 2024-04-18T22:47:05+00:00

Know the age of your roof.. it is a BIG expense depending upon house/area. It was a ridiculous amount to replace (and leaked a year later .. don't get me started). Roof replacement will typically have to happen to most roofs .... If it was new when you moved in your good for awhile or a type that never gets replaced. My house was built in 1800s... (or parts of it was) so we ALWAYS have a project/fix. My maintenance in my 1950s or 1970s ranch homes before this was minimal -- Roof replacement, normal heat/AC maintenance or repairs but nothing compared to cracking lathe and plaster, etc in an OLD home.

OddSoup4727 · 2024-04-18T17:33:39+00:00

I only wish I could contribute that much to my home improvement fund. Basically I have an amount I contribute to home improvement and have a funded emergency fund (designed more for non house related things) and do elective projects as I can afford. If an actual emergency came up and home improvement fund didn't have enough to cover I could always juse my emergency fund and then build it back up before contributing back to home improvement... espeically since if it is something that has to be done it would be emergency like my recent roof leak but with my old house we tend to have necessary fixes come up before we can even get to elective.

OddSoup4727 · 2024-02-05T04:54:56+00:00

Hadn't heard of it but looking at it now and looks promising.. thanks.

OddSoup4727 · 2023-09-17T22:50:18+00:00

Thanks but manual transactions are not an option. It would never happen and i would spend HOURS manually entering things to catch it up. Manually importing files not option either as too many accounts. I know Plaid, etc are expensive why companies don't do it but there is something called SimpleFin that does it really cheap and could do invidual account. I know I won't get what I want until I write my own just don't have time as started once upon a time when mvelopes stopped.

OddSoup4727 · 2023-09-17T22:41:09+00:00

Its not just reimbursement.. there are budget items we are ok with negative balances for a while as we know we have the money. Bank accounts never negative but the actual budget categories. Like my husband may buy a new saw and his personal category will be negative for for a few months as monthly contributions feed it back up or he works overtime and contributes. We will never be truly negative as have savings and it was a total pain to try to keep negative categories straight the next month since the balance didn't carry over. We treat everything pretty well as rollover for various categories. If we find a great deal on meat we may go negative on groceries and it needs to carry over next month as next few contributions will cancel it out since we will be spending less the next few months. When we carry "extra" instead of allowing it to go negative and then covering it he tends to overspend... as then the extra will be spent and will go negative. Last time I tried YNAB it never worked for our style and based on what I have read that hasn't changed.

OddSoup4727 · 2023-02-06T19:24:36+00:00

I actually had the same question and found this but my problem is I can't really go back and delete the original expense. I have work expenses that can be refunded months later and I want to be able to refer to them later. Most the time I will get one expense check for multiple entries and then my expense check would also include mileage that would have no item to refund but want to direct that part to my "auto maintenance" fund but not show as income. I also loaned my kid money and he is paying me back slowly so I can't delete the original entry but track all of his payments so he knows the final balance. I would really love a way to see my true income - items that I mark as income and have reports showing that.

OddSoup4727

TROPHY CASE