OT: Best budget apps?

I use Quicken for my accounts, but I also use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of recurring bills.  I use one checking account for bills only, and direct deposit a little more than the monthly bills total each month.  Pay bills only from that account.  The leftovers from each paycheck are dumped into a savings account (untouchable) and a second checking account for non-recurring expenses (eating out, a toy for the kid, whatever type miscellanous stuff).  The spreadsheet was  huge help in getting me out of some financial trouble - it shows you what your monthly obligations are and helps you plan out payments you can afford.  It's easy to forecast, also, because those bill payments don't necessarily change and you see them in black and white.

One thing about budgets and thier apps - they do you nothing if you don't capture everything you spend.  And you won't do that is you get cash from the ATM.  Cash destroys budgets, because you don't track what you're spending it on.

... best bang for your buck app. Potato Skins a close second.

Mint is pretty solid, but it lacks some thing. You can do it in personal capital which I like as an app more than mint. If you want to go old school with the “enevelope” style, then good budget is the way to go. You have to manually enter every transaction, but frankly with mint you have to constantly update the category so its a wash

YNAB!

Excel like others have said. I have a file set up on google sheets because wifey and I can access at any time from our phones, tablets and pc. I have tried mint and only stuck to it for three months. Changing the categories on the transactions every day was sorta daunting. I will say we were best at budgeting with the good ole envelope system. Something about dishing out the hard cash vs swiping a card made a weird difference in the amounts we spent. On second thought, maybe it’s the three kids we now have that make the difference. Things get a little nip and tuck at times now a days.

While I do not use an app to create a budget, I would recommend Acorns, which automatically rounds up each purchase you make to the next dollar and invests it into an account of your choosing. In one month, I racked up $93.00 without feeling any pain of actually withdrawing $93.00. It just does it in the background, but you can see each transfer and turn off the “round ups” whenever you want.

We use YNAB.  Before I used Excel, but keeping it up to date and have everyone use it was difficult.  They are now using a subscription method which has a yearly fee.  The customer service is great, the subscription comes with training sessions as well on not only how to use the app if you need it, but also on financial principles.  It definitely made it easier for my wife and I to realize how much we waste money on stupid little things and allowed us to focus more on savings, investments, and debt paydown.  

I also spent our entire family fortune on forever stamps.  In the last 5 years it's gained .03 per stamp.  It's a guranteed investment!  

 

Mint is a pretty good one