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Paid $200 for a family budget app that I stopped using after 2 weeks | Family Finance Planning - Thought Shares

Paid $200 for a family budget app that I stopped using after 2 weeks

I figured an app would finally get me to track every dollar but I just ended up ignoring the notifications and now I'm back to a spreadsheet, has anyone actually stuck with one of those paid budgeting tools?

4 comments

4 Comments

spencer_coleman5mo ago

Man I feel this so hard! I read something a while back about how most people who buy budgeting apps actually end up going back to spreadsheets or notebooks within a month, and it's totally true. @hannah400 is right about the guilt thing too - those apps make you feel like you're failing at being an adult instead of just helping you track stuff. I tried one that kept sending me push notifications saying "you're over budget on fast food" and I was like, yeah I know, that's why I'm eating a burrito right now, leave me alone lol. Spreadsheets are way more chill because you can just enter numbers and move on with your life.

hannah4005mo ago

Honestly spent $50 on YouNeedABudget once and quit after a week. The whole philosophy of giving every dollar a job stressed me out more than just overspending. Spreadsheets are way more forgiving cause you can tweak them however you want without some app yelling at you. Ngl the only budgeting tool that ever stuck for me was just writing things down in a notebook. Tbh these apps prey on people feeling guilty about money and it's just not worth it.

lilya765mo ago

Oh man, same boat here. Dropped $150 on some fancy budgeting app that was supposed to change my life and I bailed after a week. All those notifications about "category overspent" just made me feel bad about grabbing a coffee. Ended up right back where I started with a simple spreadsheet and a color coded system I built myself. These apps are great at making you feel guilty but terrible at actually helping you save money.

quinncarr4mo ago

Friend of mine dropped $200 on a fancy envelope system app. The idea was cool but the app kept freezing every time she tried to move money between envelopes. She spent more time on customer support chat than actually budgeting. Gave up after three days and now she just uses a yellow legal pad with a pencil.