Tailor Your Budget So It Fits Just Right

September 12, 2023January 13, 2012 by Chi-En

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!).

FAQ: How to use the “Sweep” Envelope to Build Savings or Pay Down Debt

April 1, 2020January 10, 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 the Goodbudget Help Center for the most recent help content.

Q: What is the “sweep” Envelope? How can I use it?

The “sweep” Envelope is like your own personal penny jar. When you record an income with the “Specify” option, EEBA will ask how much money was received and how you’d like to fund your Envelopes. Often, the amount of money you receive will be different from how much it will take to fund your Envelopes. This means that EEBA will have a little extra –or be left a little short– when funding your Envelopes. This leftover bit is sent –or taken if you’re short– to the “sweep” Envelope.

(Note, if you’re wondering how to fund your Envelopes with “Specify” without using a sweep, click here.)

For example, here we see a user recording their income of 1600.

Read more

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

April 1, 2020January 4, 2012 by Chi-En

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:

Don’t Budget Like a Dieter

May 6, 2019December 21, 2011 by Chi-En

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?

FAQ: How do I change which credit card is billed for my subscription?

April 1, 2020December 19, 2011 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.

Q: How do I change which credit card is billed for my subscription?

To change which credit card is billed for your subscription, simply cancel your current subscription and create a new one with the new credit card. You can do this any time you need to change any of your billing information.

Your current subscription will continue for as long as you’ve paid for, after which your new subscription will begin — we won’t double-charge you. You won’t lose any time with your current subscription, or any data you’ve entered into EEBA.

FAQ: What’s that line on my Envelope bar?

April 1, 2020December 13, 2011 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.

What is that? And how can it help me keep a budget?

On Android and iPhone, your Envelopes are represented by a green bar with a line that crosses through it. The green bar represents the funds you have left in each Envelope. When the Envelope is full, the bar will be fully green. As you spend out of the Envelope, the green bar will decrease to the left.

The line represents where you would be if you were “on budget.” For example, the Eating Out Envelope above has a budget of $120, and is five days into a monthly budgeting period. Assuming there are 30 days this month, that budget of $120 works out to about $4 a day (120/30 = 4). So, five days into the month the line would show where the green bar would be if you spent exactly $20 (4 x 5 = 20).

Aw, shucks…EEBA hits the top 25 chart!

October 16, 2023December 13, 2011 by Chi-En

EEBA is now Goodbudget! You can find the most up-to-date information about using Goodbudget on our Help Center. Wow, we just don’t know what to say! That is, except one giant THANK YOU. After only six days in the App Store, you lovely EEBA users pushed our little app up to the Top 200 Free … Read more

When Budget Meets Reality

January 27, 2021December 9, 2011 by Steve

This coming new year, one of my resolutions will be to eat out less. Living in San Francisco it’s hard not to be affected by the “slow food” culture at work here, but for me eating out less isn’t about saving the environment or making sure that animals are treated fairly. I just miss cooking.

I spent my college years in Southern California which among its many benefits can also boast to be the home of “Henry’s” a grocery chain that prides itself on sourcing its produce from local growers. If you’ve ever been to a Henry’s, you know it’s something special. Ripe local produce, bountiful grains, delicious snacks, I fell in love with food and cooking because of Henry’s.

FAQ: Device limit reached? Help me login, please.

April 1, 2020December 6, 2011 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.

Q: I’ve been using EEBA for a while and just switched to a new phone. Now EEBA says I’ve reached my device limit! How can I login to EEBA with my new phone?

EEBA lets you sync with up to two mobile devices for free. (You can sync with more devices as you upgrade to higher paid plans.)

If you’ve just upgraded to a new phone, however, you may have hit your device limit. If that’s the case, simply revoke access to your EEBA account for your old phones to let your new phone access your account.

One Family’s Gift-Giving Journey

May 6, 2019December 2, 2011 by Chi-En

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.