AWESOME Budgeting App to SAVE MONEY!

Let me introduce you to
GoodBudget!!

My husband I starting using this app this year and I really think we've done better than we ever have with our money.  It's comparable to the cash envelope system that is highly recommended by many finance professionals.  This is when you divide your income up as soon as you get paid.  When you decide on how much each envelope will get per pay period, you put that cash in your envelope and that's ALL you get for the month.  When the cash runs out, then too bad for you!  You literally have no more money!  This works well for a lot of people and keeps you from spending more than you have.

I liked the idea, but it didn't always work well for me.  It was an extra trip and extra time to pull all the cash out and divide it up, not to mention I would get nervous about carrying a certain amount of cash around with me.  Overall, I'm too lazy. ;)

GOODBUDGET gives you this SAME envelope system idea, but you don't have the hassle of the actual cash.  We still use our credit card, but as soon as we spend something, we go to the app and take it out of the envelope we spent from and it AUTOMATICALLY shows you how much you have left.  It even tells you things like "you might want to stop spending for 5 days, you're falling behind"

The only CON I can find with this is that it's always a risk to use your credit card because when you're money on the app runs out, that doesn't mean that your credit card is unusable.  So you have to take it seriously.  When your cash is gone in your "envelope" you are DONE for the month.  No excuses!

I know a lot of financial experts will say that credit cards are a big NO NO, but if you can follow your budget, there is one big PRO to doing it this way.  REWARDS.  Find a credit card that gives you a % back on your spending.  We end up paying for most of our Christmas at the end of the year on the rewards that we earned on things we were going to pay for anyway.  And I have family that use the airline's credit cards so that their spending helps them to accrue mileage.  They often times travel for free because of it. 

But all this budgeting will not do you any good if you don't pay your credit card off EVERY MONTH.    So when you sit down and decide what you budget amounts will be, then be very realistic.  And if you can set your amounts a little lower than your "realistic amount" then you can put the extra $$ into savings.  I'm telling you, it will start to add up and you will be amazed.

And the BEST part about this system is that you can SYNC it to your spouse!  So while you are both out and about doing separate things, you each have the same budget and updates at your fingertips.  GENIUS!  We LOVE it! 

PS:  Everyone just needs to find what works for them.  If cash is how you've got to do it to keep things under control, then do it.   It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you are staying out of debt and even better, saving some money.  Good luck to you all!!