Spending tracker/budget/saver app

FTBNow

Hi all!

I'm about to move into my first home tomorrow (FTB), and with it I'm finding my £1,580 a month salary won't stretch anywhere near as far as it used to (!)

Me and my partner are planning to open a joint account where we deposit £600 a month each for bills etc, and my own personal bills are about £540 a month (car finance, insurance and so on).

This leaves me with £460 which is plenty for petrol and so on, but I have a habit of seeing money as burning a hole in my pocket: so I'm looking for a good app on the Google Play Store to track my spending and budgeting as I ideally want to put a bit away each month towards Christmas and inevitable house repairs (about £50-100).

Any recommendations? I only ask for an app as there is no way I'll keep up with a spreadsheet! Whereas an app that connects to my bank and tracks things for me will make things an awful lot easier.

natlie

Hi I use Monzo as my cash account, it does all these things without the need of a separate tracker. I set up pots for groceries, eating out, work expenses and savings pots for xmas and birthdays and it stops me overspending its really good - the app is free and you can spend abroad free on the card and there's free cash up to a limit of £200 abroad.

You can set your own limits for daily spending at home and its flexible so you can move things around

Nat

Willing2Learn

I use YNAB. It is not free, but it is an excellent tool to have in the budgeting toolbox Tells me what my budget is for clothes, groceries etc and whether I can spend the money when I'm down at the shops.

NineDeuce

You have to question whether you really want to save money if you wont even keep up using a spreadsheet.

Excel is hardly rocket science....

zippygeorgeandben

ITBNow - congratulations on buying your first property. Looks to me like you're preparing for eventualities which may come your way.

Now stop shopping in Laura Ashley/Heals and get yourself down to Ikea!

FTBNow

NineDeuce wrote: »

You have to question whether you really want to save money if you wont even keep up using a spreadsheet.

Excel is hardly rocket science....

I do want to save money, but I'm worried about not keeping track of things or dismissing the little things (such as 60p on a packet of crisps that I sometimes spend at work on my card, for example). It's little to do with my desire to save money, and everything to do with acknowledging my sieve-like brain missing out on things!

If anything I'm more determined to save money now than ever, I just know having easy access to an app on my phone and being able to update it then and then where purchases happen is something I'm much more likely to stick to.

Willing2Learn

NineDeuce wrote: »

You have to question whether you really want to save money if you wont even keep up using a spreadsheet.

Excel is hardly rocket science....

Excel doesn't look as pretty and it doesn't teach you the YNAB method, if you are the sort of person that needs a method to reinforce the budget...

FTBNow

natlie wrote: »

Hi I use Monzo as my cash account, it does all these things without the need of a separate tracker. I set up pots for groceries, eating out, work expenses and savings pots for xmas and birthdays and it stops me overspending its really good - the app is free and you can spend abroad free on the card and there's free cash up to a limit of £200 abroad.

You can set your own limits for daily spending at home and its flexible so you can move things around

Nat

Hi Nat,

Thanks for this! I've heard a lot of good things about Monzo and have just signed up for an account and a debit card with them. I like the idea of individual pots: I think if I have it all in one place I'm more likely to spend it on something the money isn't originally allocated for (!)

Do you just transfer from your main bank account into here?

chris024

I have been using Starling for a month which is similar to Monzo.

My salary, direct debits and standing orders are all with my main bank account and I leave enough cash in there to cover these payments.

I then transfer the rest of my money into Starling which I use for my everyday expenses/disposable income.

Starling has a system like pots and I have been putting a bit of cash in separate goals for planned expenses, like car insurance.

My longer term savings go back to a savings account with my bank as the interest rates are better.

It's been working great so far!

DD265

I have YNAB (but the old pay-once version) and the app. Honestly I don't use the app much at all; I probably should but I tend to update my transactions and budget daily on my PC instead.

I do have Office365 and I have the Excel app on my phone which is fine to use so that might still be an option. I think something where you can access on your phone as well as a PC/tablet is a good idea.

You can reduce the number of transactions you need to input if you're concerned about 60p's here and there - just withdraw a fixed amount of cash for the week and once you blow it, it's gone. I just track the cash withdrawal and as far as my budget is concerned, that £10 is spent, but then I'll use the cash before card where possible.

NineDeuce

FTBNow wrote: »

I do want to save money, but I'm worried about not keeping track of things or dismissing the little things (such as 60p on a packet of crisps that I sometimes spend at work on my card, for example). It's little to do with my desire to save money, and everything to do with acknowledging my sieve-like brain missing out on things!

If anything I'm more determined to save money now than ever, I just know having easy access to an app on my phone and being able to update it then and then where purchases happen is something I'm much more likely to stick to.

Just open your bank account online to see your transactions and simultaneously record them on Excel. Have 3 tables - a beginning of month budget, actual, and forecast until pay day.