Do use use any financial tools for budgeting?

M

Muskrat

Senior Member
Location
Mainly arizona
I just found out my bank website has a great set of budgeting tools. I never knew this. I had been searching for some sort of budget app…halfheartedly to do this. Lo and behold my bank will do it for me. I can see my spending by category or vender, and it lets me say what category I want a merchant to be in. I am obsessed now…
 

Most of my major monthly expenses are automatically deducted from my checking account or credit card.

The online banking app has some similar tools, it keeps track of my recurring expenses and lets me know what is coming up, average account balances and monthly expenses.

I also write down all of my daily expenditures in a notebook, tally them monthly, and again annually.

My main conern is not so much the category as much as staying within my monthly/annual allowance.

I’ve done it for so long that it has almost become intuitive to know the months that will run over budget and where I can make up the difference to stay on track.

We all need to know where our money comes from and where it goes.

IMO, any system can be a good system if you stick with it until it becomes a habit.
 

I maintain a spreadsheet where I enter the amount of gas and electric I use each day on one worksheet, then on three other worksheets I summarise the gas usage per month, the electric usage per month, and the total usage per month. On the last one I also have 3 monthly rolling summaries, 6 monthly rolling summaries, and an annual rolling summary.

Other than that I just keep track of my monthly spending either by going on to my bank website to see all the recent transactions, or onto the credit card website to see my recent transactions. That way I know when there are big direct debits coming up and if necessary I'll move money into my current account to cover the credit card cost. I always pay the complete amount, so I never pay any interest on my credit card, but as it's a Tesco's credit card, I also accumulate loyalty points that I can put toward meals out and other items.
 
I never have had a spreadsheet before. While I have a good grip on what I can or cannot afford…I have always been reticent about the actual work involved in creating an accounting system. The best I do is write down what I spend on the project house. So I was very happy to find this tool in my banking website. Pretty harsh to see the ugly details…but fun, too.
 
No, I just have a folder with paper sheets for every spending category and write them down whenever I pay a bill or make purchases. At the end of the month, I total each category and see how my spending compared with income, and if I was over or short for the month. That is easier and faster for me than having to open a spreadsheet on the computer each time I pay anything.
 
Our money coming in is all electronic.

Our expenses don't vary much each month & most are on auto pay. Like coming in, going out comes in the form of checking our credit card & bank account bi monthly.

Pretty simple system. Money comes in to bank, bills are paid automatically. Other needs or wants are charged. Access bank account to pay credit card. All tracking done electronically. Between the bank & credit card all accounting is documented.
 
I use a self generated spreadsheet in Google Drive to list my projected expenses and bank account balances for up to three months in advance. It is set up for the entire year...color coded by cards and financial institutions. I also use the self tallying spreadsheet linked below to record all my expenditures and actual income, including cash back rewards. The Vertex spreadsheet is a God send at the beginning of each year when I have to reconcile the balance due on my Zakat (obligatory charity) for the prior year and also at tax time. I've been using that method for almost 2 decades so never tried using what the banks provide. I remember when I used to do my budgets in a notebook with lined paper.

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It says for Excel, but there's also a link to open it in Google Sheets. The spreadsheet tallies by month and keeps a running tally for the year. Categories can be edited. I never use the graph feature. Family Budget Planner
 
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I started using a spreadsheet back in the early 90s, for budgeting and expense tracking. These days, it is just for tracking expenses and their rise over periods of time. I guess something of a budgeting process, as I do calculate the potential expense of a new/used vehicle, as well as projected household replacement items.
 
stretch5881 said:
I have used a ledger book since the 90s. I can just open it to see what I've paid and how much, what is still due and what's coming up including the bills that are every 6 months or yearly.
Click to expand...
Ive used one since the 70's. I still have all my old ones. Its really crazy to look back and see what we paid for things back then.
 
I still use Microsoft Money. It was discontinued decades ago.

It has to be said that I am thinking of just abandoning it because the bank's app on my phone is far more efficient. within seconds of scanning my card at a checkout my phone beeps with the news of the amount I have just spent.
 
We used Excel for years before retiring, to track all our income and expenses. Used it 'the hard way' --- we would go through the
CC statement and checkbook every month and manually enter the numbers in categories we set up. We used it to try to get a 'reasonable' projection of expenses and income for retirement. We had to factor in things like car repairs, house repairs to forecast their expenses. At this point, we no longer need to budget.
 
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