I’ve been trying to get my finances in order for a while. I’ve been looking up different software to help me budget, but I can’t find privacy respecting software besides Firefly III, which is self hosted. I usually try to find a few options then evaluate from there, but was wondering if you guys had any recommendations to throw in the mix!
As long as you are fine with self hosted, another option is Actual.
Seconding Actual. I’ve been self-hosting it for a while. You can also just use it as a standalone application on Windows and Linux. I update every week or so manually(you can also set up bank autosync or upload files exported from your bank), then I export a copy and back that up on an external HDD and upload to Filen.
Not to detract from the recommendations and finding what works for you, I do recommend starting with a simple spreadsheet first. You don’t have to stick with it, but it’s a good start.
Benefits are you get use to logging your transactions, and you can do this manually or by CSV import. Not only can it do the math for you, but you can use multiple formulas to summarize various things.
For instance I enter all my recurring bills into the sheet per month, and it calculates my money both on what has posted (how much do I have today) and end of month (how much is left at the end).
I also categorize the transactions then table it. How much have I spent on groceries vs dining out? What percentage of my income is that? That’s where you really start seeing where your money is going and you can start making educated decisions on where you spend.
I would agree, but when I’ve sat down to make a spreadsheet it just seems like inputting and categorizing my different transactions manually is a chore. I just want to have something categorize and bin it into necessities, saving, and then see how much off the top I can spend per day. Usually if I have a dollar goal per day or week it makes it really easy for me to budget. Now that my finances are more complicated, its harder to get to that point with just a spreadsheet.
Do you currently have a budget?
What is your process?
I don’t have a process right now because my finances got more complicated recently. I figured I’d ask so that I can make a process!
Here’s how to do what you’re trying to do:
Get a pen and pad of paper. Transcribe all your expenses last month from bank records, cc statements, cash receipts etc. write it like 7/23/26 citgo $17.45. Now total it up at the bottom. that total is the money you spent.
Flip over to the next page, transcribe all your income last month from payroll checks, pensions, investments, yard sales etc. write it the same way. When you total that up at the bottom you know your income.
When you compare those two, you will find out if you’re spending more than you make.
Now flip to the next page. Take all your expenses and transcribe them by category, like “food”, “gas” etc. now you know how much you’re spending on different things and can (if you have a shortfall, a situation where you’re spending more than you make) figure out where to find savings. Perhaps you spend time preparing take and go meals at home instead of eating fast food, or cancel some streaming subscriptions.
If you just did all that, and I did not intend this as a rhetorical device: stop and actually do what I just outlined, you will have a budget.
The point of doing this process isn’t to shake the austerity dead chicken at you, but to help you figure out what your version of the budget process outlined above looks like.
Did you find it time consuming to manually transcribe transactions from ledger to ledger? Perhaps your “budget software” is a spreadsheet package with csv formatted imports from your bank and credit card comapnies.
Did you have a hard time handling lots of cash receipts? Perhaps you need to switch to a debit card or use a receipt scanner or ocr software at the point of purchase.
Is it not clear what category something fits into? A software package that automatically sorts things into categories or a name lookup table in your spreadsheet will make that faster and easier.
Maybe the pen and paper method worked out just fine for you but you could benefit from an accounting ruled pad and a more comfortable pen.
You should be choosing software to solve a problem, but you don’t know what the problem is. The problem isnt that you don’t have a budget. Getting a budget is the goal. Working it out on paper will help you understand what is standing between you and that goal. That thing is the problem your software needs to solve.
There’s no point in auditioning software or taking software suggestions if you don’t know what the problem is. It’s like asking how best to move your dirt pile. Komatsu makes a phenomenal solution to this, but it’s 300k to buy and 2k to rent for a day. A shovel and wheelbarrow might be a better approach but if you just ask for the best software you’re gonna get people pointing you at very complex bulldozer packages like actual or intuit in the commercial accounting software world.
I use hledger (strict mode) + ledger-mode (Doom Emacs) + Simplefin Bridge for personal accounting. It supports budgeting features as well, and you don’t need to self-host anything since you just commit everything to a Git repo. Also hledger’s documentation is very thorough.
No disrespect, you honestly first need to understand the theory of budgeting and then you can practice.
Trying to find a program to assist you is really just something to distract you.
All you need is a free excel type program.
The physical action of looking at your bank statements and transcribing that data into your excel budget by hand enforces spending discipline and spending awareness.
Once you have everything in order and you are able to prove to yourself that you are financially stable, then integrating program assistance makes sense.
I completely disagree, to be honest. I don’t understand how making a budget has a necessary prerequisite of manually inputting and categorizing transactions into a spreadsheet, or how that builds character in a way that’s relevant to saving money. I want a program because my finances became more complicated recently and I don’t have time to input my transactions from my bank into a spreadsheet and categorize them every day.
Lol, I started writing a six paragraph replay and had to delete it.
You are probably financially literate enough where my statements above is just common sense to you and you don’t feel it is necessary to do extra work for something you already have a handle on.
To others just starting out, they may not know anything about personal finance or money. My statements above is a great starting point.
To someone who may be bad with money they need to practice a budget and the act of transcribing data forces them to digest and comprehend their spending decisions. If their budget is automated it is easier to overlook spending or disregard transactions because they are not engaged with their budget or spending habits.
I don’t mind that you have a differing opinion. Everyone’s finances and level of competency is different. But you have to start somewhere I guess.
I did write my initial post like Im starting from nowhere. I do appreciate trying to get me in on the basics!
Why does something like that have to be network connected? If you need software at all, I thought that was what spreadsheets were for. Otherwise the basic idea is to be frugal with expenditures and have some mental awareness and preparation for any big upcoming ones. Of course the hope is that if you’re slightly careful, you can keep your expenses lower than your income. That’s become harder in recent years.
