Cashflow management - tracking spending

Nynab has Networth tracking now.

 

I use My Budget Book for iPhone. All weekly and monthly costs are set as recurring transactions (daily coffee, monthly insurance and repayments) and anything ad hoc is entered daily within a few clicks.

Each month the totals per income & expenses category are entered into an Excel sheet and mapped against a rough forecast I planned at the start of 2017. Notes are made of any oddities and things I should try to cut back or allow for higher spend in.

This way I dont spend too long per day tracking budget, with only a monthly reflection.

 

I use the free version of Goodbudget. It's envelope based budgeting and the free version provides 10 monthly envelopes and 10 annual envelopes. I find this is enough as I group my expenses such as utilities envelope for electricity, gas, mobile, internet etc, shopping envelope for clothes, shoes etc. Unfortunately, every transaction needs to be manually inputted with the trick being to do it when you spend the money rather than at the end of the month.

Main feature I wanted was the ability to use two devices (Android & iPhone) to access the one account so that both my wife and I can track spending without the need of aggregating two separate accounts. I chose Goodbudget about 5-7 years ago so there may be other alternatives.

I don't use the reports much as it's pretty clear where more control may be required when an envelope is deep in the red. Also don't use the auto fill or link to bank accounts which may not be included in the free version.

I agree with Paul that first priority is to transfer money away into a savings account. Also found a good way of constructing a budget was to set a generous amount to save (quite possibly impossible) and then work out what other expenses needs to be to achieve it. Iterate till a palatable balance between saving and spending is reached as there are expenses which are hard to control.

 

Hi
Thinking of tracking spending for budgeting etc and came across this post from 2017, thought I would post and rebirth thread as things will have changed and there may be better options.

My needs would be.

- Ability to link credit cards, bank accounts, hopefully PayPal, afterpay etc
- forward planning as well as past history / tracking

- linking super and investments would be a bonus
A. To calculate net position
B. Project forward.

Thanks in advance.

 

Came across some reviews.

Pocketbook (free)
&
Money Brilliant (paid)
Pop up in top 3
Money Brilliant looks like it has some nice tools for combining bank accounts, assets, super, etc to report networth.

7 Budgeting and Savings Apps for 2021 | Canstar

Best budgeting & money saving apps in Australia | Savings.com.au

The seven budget and savings apps every Aussie needs

 

A couple of other reviews

What are the best budgeting apps in Australia?

https://www.finder.com.au/top-apps-save-money