Home Budget App: Goodbudget

Home Budget App: Goodbudget

Articles

Budgeting with Financial Aid

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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.

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How much can I afford to give?

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This spring, I came across an opportunity to help a friend. This friend of mine would be living in the slums of Manila and working with women exiting prostitution, and I hoped to help her get there. There are many cool short and long term projects like this that I would love to support, but my question was “How much can I afford to give?” I wanted to give more money away, but I never knew how far my money could go.

Shortfalls of Account Balance Budgeting

As an inexperienced budgeter, I had trouble finding a balance between excessive spending and fearful thriftiness. I used to look at my checking account balance when making financial decisions. I’d see my balance, try to estimate a needed cushion plus any known future expenses, and then be willing to spend the difference. This elementary form of budgeting kept me from going in the red, but it didn’t give me a picture of where my money was going. It also kept me from making more bold and generous choices with my money.

Creating a Budget with Goodbudget

In order to determine how much I could afford to give, I decided to create a budget with Goodbudget. With each step, I became closer to my goal—

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Start Small and Build Momentum to Achieve Your Financial Goals

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Financial goals can often seem large and overwhelming. But don’t be intimidated! Start with small and fun financial goals to build confidence and momentum toward larger goals. Not sure how to start? Here are some tips on how to choose a small and fun financial goal to get started.

Make a list of potential financial goals

Start by making a list of potential financial goals. Be creative when you make this list! You can start with the usual suspects like a retirement fund or a college fund for the kids, but don’t stop there. Is there a hobby you’ve wanted to try but haven’t had the cash to get started? Or maybe a trip you’ve wanted to go on but haven’t had the funds? Write those down!

A financial goal is more than just building up wealth, it’s about making choices with the money that you have. Paying down debt or saving for the future are great financial goals, but so is learning an instrument or giving meaningfully to a good cause. Think creatively about your financial goals and you’re more likely to find one you’ll really stick with.

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When is it OK to use your credit card?

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When is it OK to use your credit card? Some might say never, and with consumer debt topping 1.7 trillion dollars this year, maybe they’re right.* But why are credit cards so bad, and is going all cash really the answer?

Credit Cards Distance You From Your Spending

People spend more when they pay with their credit card. It’s inevitable. When you pay with cash, you feel every penny. You only have so much cash on hand and each dollar you spend is a dollar less in your pocket. This direct connection with your spending keeps things in perspective. Spend $50 bucks on eating out this week, and you’ll feel the emptiness of your wallet by the end of it.

In contrast, when you pay with a credit card the payment happens out of context. You spend $5 on a sandwich one day, $6 on a burrito the next, and nothing adds up. Not until the end of the month when you’re hit with a $300 bill that you don’t understand, and may not have the money to pay in full.

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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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Sync Your EEBA Household

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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.

Did you know you can sync your EEBA household across multiple mobile devices and the web?

Register your household and you’ll be able to login with the same household username and password on any device. We’ll keep your budget up-to-date automagically.

If you started on iPhone…

  • Head to the “More” tab,
  • Press “Register…”
  • Then fill out the form to complete your registration.

That’s it! You can now access your budget on the EEBA website, or on another mobile device.

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FAQ: How Can I Track My Debt in EEBA?

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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: I’ve decided to finally pay off my credit cards! How can I use EEBA to keep track of how much I owe, how much I want to pay, and how close I am to achieving my goal?

Paying off debt is a great financial goal. You may feel the pinch in the short term, but in the long run you’ll save money and enjoy greater peace of mind. With EEBA, you’ll have two options when keeping track of your debt.

Option 1: Track the Balance of Your Debt (Plus/Premium)

If you’re on the Plus or Premium plan with EEBA, you can use Accounts to keep track of the balance of your debt as you pay it off. Here’s how:

Step 1.Create a Credit Card Account for Each Debt
Head to the Accounts page to create a new Credit Card Account for each debt you want to track. Enter the balance of the Account as a positive number, equal to the current balance that you owe.

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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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