Home Budget App: Goodbudget

Home Budget App: Goodbudget

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Spend, splurge, or save? Eat out on a budget.

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My husband and I like to eat out. Don’t get me wrong — we love to cook homemade food most of the time. But every once in a while, we enjoy getting out of the house to savor a delicious meal.

Eating at restaurants can quickly add up, so how do we eat out and still stay on budget? Before we head out the door, I look at our Eating Out Envelope. I don’t look at the Envelope Balance to see how much money is in the Envelope. That might mislead me into thinking I can spend more than I really should.

Instead, I look at the little line on my Envelope bar and the comment beneath it. Goodbudget looks at my spending for the month and lets me know if I’m keeping pace with my budget. This lets us know whether we can spend on a simple meal out, splurge on something nice– or whether we should save and have a home cooked meal instead.

When to Spend

If Goodbudget says we’re ahead by $10, we have some money to spend on burritos and drinks.  Yum!

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Have EEBA cake, and eat it too!

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EEBA baked a cake! Why? To celebrate regaining her 4.5-star rating on Android Market, of course. Thanks to all you loyal Android budgeters who rated the app! A special shout-out to Sarah, whose 5-star rating helped put EEBA over the top. She has “been using for 6 months and stayed in budget every time.” Great … Read more

Tailor Your Budget So It Fits Just Right

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You followed Steve’s advice for how to make a budget. Then you tracked your expenses in Goodbudget for a month. Or maybe even longer. Great job! So why does it feel like something’s not quite right?

Maybe you’ve noticed an Envelope that’s often in the red. You know which one I’m talking about… Or maybe you have an Envelope that always has extra green. No worries. Budgets are a bit like clothes. Sometimes they fit well — and sometimes they don’t. Most budgets need some tailoring before they fit just right. Here’s how you can tailor yours with Goodbudget.

Step 1. Look in the Mirror

Pull up the Spending vs Budget Report on the web and assess how you’re doing. Is there an Envelope where you’ve been spending over budget (the orange bar is longer than the green bar)? Or under budget by a lot (a really short orange bar)? Pick just a couple to start. In my household, we were over in Utilities (by almost double!), and under in Household Items (only half!).

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FAQ: How do I group my Envelopes? How does that help?

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Update

EEBA is now Goodbudget! Goodbudget has all the great features of EEBA (and more!) in a new and updated interface. Check out our updated article on this topic, and check out the Goodbudget Help Center for the most recent help content.

Q: How do I group my Envelopes? How does that help?

It’s quite simple to group your Envelopes.  When you name your Envelopes via Edit Budgets, use colons “:” — like Food: Eating Out and Food: Groceries. On the web, your Envelopes Overview and Reports will group these together. You’ll see whether you’re on track in each Envelope and also how you’re doing with the whole Envelope group.

Which Envelopes should I group together?

Well, that depends on what you want. If you have a lot of bills (cell phone, power, water, trash, cable, etc.), you might be getting a report that shows all your bills separately, like this:

To see how much you spent on all your bills together, while still tracking cell phone, water, and power separately, name your Envelopes like this:

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Don’t Budget Like a Dieter

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Spent too much on Christmas shopping? New Year’s Resolution: Spend less!

Ate too many holiday sweets and savory treats? New Year’s Resolution: Eat less!

But wait… we all know where the belt-tightening road leads. You tell yourself “no, no, no…” every time you see something fun you’d like to buy or something special you’d like to eat. And at some point you break. You just can’t handle all those “no’s” any more. So you binge — you go on a shopping spree and break the bank, or you eat a huge juicy burger and break your diet.

But what are you really after? Is it to follow a strict diet and lose the proverbial 10 pounds? That could be really oppressive. Or is it simply to be healthier? Probably, yes. In that case, why not start saying “yes” to all the delicious healthy things you can eat?

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One Family’s Gift-Giving Journey

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Last week, as Steve was thinking about how to budget for the holidays, our conversation quickly turned toward what we think gift-giving is really all about. Why do we give gifts? I think of gifts as an expression of love, but if that’s true, why is there so much worry and stress over giving and receiving gifts?

In my family, we’ve talked about what it means for us to give and receive gifts about 20 times in the last 21 years — and come up with just as many answers. As a large and growing family, what it has meant for us to give and receive gifts has changed over time. We’ve done small gifts, large gifts, alternative gifts, and even no gifts, all in search of a way for us to keep the love in our gifts, without getting lost in a pile of more stuff that no one needs.

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EEBA launches for iPhone!

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EEBA is now Goodbudget! You can find the most up-to-date information about using Goodbudget on our Help Center. We are so incredibly excited to announce that EEBA for iPhone is now live in the App Store! EEBA 1.0 for iPhone is quite possibly the best mobile version of EEBA yet. All the Goodies You Love, … Read more

Couple sitting at a table, looking at budget app on web and mobile phone

Goodbudget

Budget well. Live life. Do good.

A home budget app based on the envelope budget system. Available on the Web, Android, and iPhone. Replace your family budget planner, worksheet or spreadsheet with software that syncs.
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