Articles | Goodbudget

Traveling with Goodbudget: Saving Up for a Vacation

June 25, 2021March 15, 2013 by becky

This spring, I’ll be heading off to the Big Apple to visit friends and enjoy some time off. In the past, I’ve shied away from setting or following a budget while on vacation. It felt good to take a break from budgeting, but this unregulated spending often led to piles of leftovers after eating out, … Read more

Import Transactions to Get Back on Track

October 16, 2023March 1, 2013 by Steve

EEBA is now Goodbudget! You can find the most up-to-date information about using Goodbudget on our Help Center. I had a rough time last month. Personal illness and a rash of family emergencies had left my regular schedule in disarray. Among the organizational casualties in my life was my transaction history in EEBA. By the end … Read more

Welcoming a Pup Into My Home & Budget

April 23, 2024February 8, 2013 by becky

I recently got a puppy named Curby. She’s a fearless little Chihuahua-mix that enjoys napping in laps, chewing on shoelaces, and sunbathing on the deck. At first I wasn’t sure how to include her in my regular budget, so I decided to add her expenses in my existing Envelopes and tag them with #Curby in the notes section. This would let me keep track of how much I spent on her, without having to change my existing budget. It wouldn’t work as well if my Curby expenses outweighted my regular expenses, but how much could a little dog cost? A month later, Goodbudget showed me the answer. I went to my Spending by Envelope Report and selected “Curby” under the Tagged filter to see how much I spent. Tiny as she is, expenses for Curby grew bigger and bigger—a squeaky chew toy here, gummy bear-flavored shampoo there, not to mention her shots and food.

Three Years of EEBA

October 16, 2023November 5, 2012 by Steve

EEBA is now Goodbudget! You can find the most up-to-date information about using Goodbudget on our Help Center.

This November, EEBA will celebrate its third year of helping users sync their budgets, manage their finances, and save money for the things that matter. It has been an amazing time and we’ve been blown away by the creativity and dedication of our users.

Most of all, we are humbled by the ways you choose to make EEBA a part of your financial lives. Here at EEBA HQ, we often share poignant feedback or touching reviews with each other, and delight in seeing the ways EEBA has made a difference in people’s lives.

Especially delightful to us are stories of people coming together about their budget.

LOVE THIS APP! My husband and I love this program. It updates on both of our phones and so far we’ve been able save a ton of money! I would recommend it to anyone! – Jacqueline

We are proud of EEBA’s mobile sync feature, keeping your budget in sync on multiple mobile devices and the web automatically, but seeing how it helps users communicate and stick with a budget together makes us even prouder!

Save with Purpose

October 3, 2023October 5, 2012 by Steve

When we choose to save, we’re paying a cost today with the hope of a future reward later. Many of us choose not to save thinking we can’t bear that present cost. Other’s may overemphasize the future reward and save without purpose or limit. Both of these perspectives can be misleading. As you think about your own saving, take some time to think about what you’re saving for. Having a clear purpose for your savings will help you make the hard decisions about when and how much to save, and let you know when you’ve saved enough.

What are you saving for?

Having a clear purpose for your savings will help you prioritize it over other distractions that are sure to happen each month. Years ago I tried to start a savings account, but never decided what I was saving for. Unsurprisingly, each month something would come up that would distract me from saving. One month my car needed to be repaired, another month my friends would want to go on a road trip. Without a purpose for my savings account, it was hard to ever say no to these things and my savings account remained empty.

You Can Build Up A One Month Cushion

September 28, 2012 by Steve

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. We all know it’s better to have a little cushion in our budget. What … Read more

When You’re Making More, But Seeing Less

February 22, 2024September 12, 2012 by Steve

Have you ever felt like the more you make, the less you have? You know you’re bringing more money home each month, but somehow it feels like you have less to spend than ever. That’s what it feels like when you don’t have control over your spending, and that’s when it’s more important than ever to have a budget.

I experienced this a few months ago when I got a raise at work. Perfect, I thought, since I was already living off my current income the raise would all be extra. I could set it aside towards a goal in Goodbudget, add it to my Savings, or whatever I needed. Unsure of how I wanted to use the extra money, I decided to just let it gather in my Available money. As the months passed, however, I was surprised to find that my Available balance wasn’t increasing as I thought it would, but was in fact decreasing. What was going on?

Paying off Debt

May 6, 2019September 5, 2012 by Steve

I recently had to make a decision about how to pay my student loans. One option was to follow a standard repayment plan, equal payments each month for the life of the loan. Another option was to sign up for a payment plan based off my income. I would make smaller payments each month -which usually means a longer loan- but then after 25 years the loan would be forgiven.

At first I thought the decision would be easy. Lower payments and a debt that would be forgiven? Why wouldn’t I choose the income based plan? I knew there were good financial reasons to pay off debt sooner: less money paid on interest, better cash flow month to month, etc. etc. But as I did the math I found that financially the income based plan was still the best option.

So, I signed up. I felt smart for having more to spend each month and gracious to the government program that was making it all possible.

And yet, something felt off. I knew I wasn’t doing anything illegal, I was choosing a repayment plan that was being offered to me, and honestly reporting my income. But I also knew that I could afford to pay more, but was choosing not to knowing that what I didn’t pay would simply be forgiven later.

Use Your Budget to Make Room for What’s Important

May 6, 2019August 29, 2012 by Chi-En

My husband and I have been budgeting with Goodbudget for almost a year now — and we love it! Following a budget with Goodbudget helps us stay on the same page, watch spending in sticky areas, and splurge from time to time without going crazy. But even after a year with Goodbudget, stuff still comes … Read more

Budgeting with Financial Aid

April 22, 2024August 21, 2012 by Steve

With Fall fast approaching, students everywhere are leaving their nests to set off to college. With more and more students taking loans to finance their education, however, learning how to budget and live off student loans is more important than ever.

The hardest part about budgeting with student loans is that you get it all at once. With a pile of cash in the bank, it’s just too easy to look at your bank balance and think you have more to spend than you really do, leaving yourself short in the months ahead. To make sure you don’t overspend, treat your student loan like an income you receive over time. If you’re borrowing 6,000 to pay for the next four months, treat it as a monthly budget of 1,500 (6,000 / 4 = 1,500) that you’ll need to maintain each month. That way, you can be sure you’ll have enough to cover your needs till your next loan disbursement.