I’m looking for a good budgeting app. Ideally, I’d like to connect it to my bank account, and every time I make a purchase, it will ask me what category it should belong to and update the remaining amount for that category each month. I want it to reset at the start of every month. Does anything like this exist? Or do you have any other recommendations?
YNAB is wonderful. Just make sure to watch plenty of ‘how-to’ videos to get the most out of it.
Lots of apps do this! If you like zero-based budgeting, check out YNAB, MyBudgetCoach, or EveryDollar. If you prefer non-zero-based methods, try Monarch, Copilot, or Simplifi.
In my opinion, zero-based budgeting is the best because it helps you plan for every dollar before you spend it. YNAB is great but has a steep learning curve, so if you’re new to it, MyBudgetCoach might be a bit easier since you get to talk to a coach.
+1 for Monarch. You can try my referral link for a 30-day free trial if you want: https://www.monarchmoney.com/referral/ua6ehzu0nq.
I don’t use a dedicated budgeting app—just a spreadsheet (Apple Numbers). I use a script that asks the ‘what category’ question when I input a transaction. Instead of connecting to my bank, I download .csv files from my bank and upload them manually.
I used YNAB for a couple of years, but I wasn’t using it properly (I was just tracking expenses). I stopped for about a year and quickly realized I had no clue where my money was going anymore. I recently redownloaded it and started using it for zero-based budgeting. It really works when used as intended!
I use a Google Sheet and turned on notifications for my credit card. Whenever I make a purchase, a notification pops up, and I don’t swipe it away until I’ve entered the transaction into my sheet. It takes like 30 seconds per transaction, and the sheet does the rest, letting me know how much I have left in each category.