Budget tracking apps/sites?

[Danno]

Trying to get a better handle on household spending. I have a budget, but I don't have an easy way to compare what I actually spend to the theoretical budget. I realize that the brute force method -- saving every receipt and entering it all on the spreadsheet -- is one option, but thinking that a) there must be some apps/websites that do this, and b) the Padded Room must have people who have used them. Any suggestions?

[creaky fossil]

pencil, paper, and calculator if your brain is fried from too much NPR/PBS

danno too busy being a junior lawyer (i.e. slave) to know how to add and subtract?

[char]

Checkout Mint.

Just know they are using all that info to sell you shit.

[::: :::]

quicken has budgeting and the ability to create reports to see where your money's going
(it's going to dining/drinking out & gear, btw)
you pay for the desktop app and can get the mobile apps for free

[edit] this won't get you out of entering all your receipts

[Danno]

pencil, paper, and calculator if your brain is fried from too much NPR/PBS

danno too busy being a junior lawyer (i.e. slave) to know how to add and subtract?

Reading comprehension is not your friend. And you really don't know nearly as much about me as you like to think you do.

[adrenalated]

quicken has budgeting and the ability to create reports to see where your money's going
(it's going to dining/drinking out & gear, btw)
you pay for the desktop app and can get the mobile apps for free

[edit] this won't get you out of entering all your receipts

Quicken will interface with most bank/credit card company websites to automatically download your transactions if you're a lazy fuck.
I enter them all in manually and use it to reconcile my statements and make sure I'm not mischarged and there's no fraudulent charges (caught a few over the years this way).

[Bryon1]

I like the "Home Budget" app. I just enter each charge on my phone when I spend $$ (takes 10 sec) and you can sync it with other users. Mint is a good option too but it automatically enters everything and I found that I was having to go and reclass a lot of their transactions to the correct account. I found that the act of manually entering each transaction in the Home Budget app gave me a better sense of how I was spending.

[creaky fossil]

Reading comprehension is not your friend. And you really don't know nearly as much about me as you like to think you do.

how ironic you'd say that. did you look in a mirror as you composed it?

I don't think you know anything like what you imagine you do, Narcissus. besides, paper and pencil still will do the job, app be damned regardless, and maybe you should stop and think about why you need an app for this? do you use an app to wipe your ass after you shit? maybe you don't even wipe!

[EaglesPDX]

Quicken is the best with the most platforms, Windows and Mac, and the most extras.

[Scrubadub]

we use mint...pretty slick and links with banks, credit cards, retirement, etc....

[Tuckerman]

We also use Mint.

[Cruiser]

Another recco for mint. We have all our accounts linked to it and it gives us a very nice overview of our income, expenses, and investments. It does require some management since it's not able to correctly categorize every purchase without a little input but once you get used to checking it and adjusting the categories for your spending then it's a very effective tool.

[mcsquared]

I, too, use Mint. The #1 result from entering "Budget Tracking" into Google.

[::: :::]

Quicken will interface with most bank/credit card company websites to automatically download your transactions if you're a lazy fuck.
I enter them all in manually and use it to reconcile my statements and make sure I'm not mischarged and there's no fraudulent charges (caught a few over the years this way).

we do the same
no need for quicken to have access to my bank anyway...just another security hole to worry about

[::: :::]

maybe you should stop and think about why you need an app for this?

it will crunch months or years of numbers in a second or two?

[Rip'nStick]

Set up a spreadsheet with some pivot tables, macro and conditional formatting if you want to get fancy on downloads. I just code the type of expenses from my bank/cc statements after importing them into spreadsheet.

No way I am going to trust and app to access and look over my bank and other financial accts. no way

[Danno]

mint is what I keep hearing here and elsewhere, and it does have some appeal. But some have said that the amount of time reclassifying stuff made it not worth it for them, and like Rip'nStick, I do have some qualms about giving it access to all my financial info.

I like the "Home Budget" app. I just enter each charge on my phone when I spend $$ (takes 10 sec) and you can sync it with other users. Mint is a good option too but it automatically enters everything and I found that I was having to go and reclass a lot of their transactions to the correct account. I found that the act of manually entering each transaction in the Home Budget app gave me a better sense of how I was spending.

I may try this as an alternative, thanks.

[EaglesPDX]

One other nice thing about Quicken is it makes using Turbo Tax cheaper (a fellow Intuit product with discounts) and easier.

Not sure about the fear of letting a program download your financial records for you. It's just downloading the monthly statements and activity. The bank interface is one of the nice features.

[Timberridge]

Have you looked at SAP?

[shroom]

i use mint just for the general snapshot. if it doesn't provide everything you're looking for, take a look at YNAB (you need a budget).

[::: :::]

Have you looked at SAP?

no archiving capability

[Art Shirk]

I tried to ditch Mint when I realized it didnt have a hookers and blow privacy module. For as cool as it seemed, you guys just wait until you try to disassociate. I would be hard-pressed to think of a higher cost of attrition service out there. I've finally been able to whittle their sticky fingers down to spam emails every week and am pessimistically hopeful that previous bank connections/info are destroyed.

[RShea]

A number of Android apps out there- some are basic check register type with capabilities of categories- Import the bank info from your E-Bank (most support comma delimited or other standard formats) into Excel and the data from the phone app also. mooLa Personal Finance app would be one to look at and investigate if you have Droid.

[char]

I tried to ditch Mint when I realized it didnt have a hookers and blow privacy module. For as cool as it seemed, you guys just wait until you try to disassociate. I would be hard-pressed to think of a higher cost of attrition service out there. I've finally been able to whittle their sticky fingers down to spam emails every week and am pessimistically hopeful that previous bank connections/info are destroyed.

Similar experience, but I got new bank accounts.

[Kevo]

I use Mint for tracking day to day expenses and I have a spreadsheet that I built to track and forecast income, savings, investments and net worth over time at a high level.

I hear good things about YNAB as well.