Purchased It Just In Time – Personal Finance Software Free Review
Posted in Software on January 20th, 2012 by Brandon Walker – Be the first to commentThis software is great in managing/budgeting your expenses. The only bad thing is the amount of work that you have to put in (recording). It gives you a simple, straight forward way to see how each purchase, each bill, each dollar leaving and entering your account affects all the dollars around it. Every couple years I see money rolling out of my pockets like a cheap strainer, and get the gumption to budget.
I can honestly say that I’ve already saved enough money by using YNAB to pay for itself several times over. I’ve tried MS Money, but it was a nightmare to figure out. Of course, if you’re trying to discipline yourself and get out of debt, you’re not likely to have that same experience. I find that I still like to keep all my financial accounts in one place and updated.
The only con, so far, is that the print capability of this software sucks! The register comes out very distorted on one of my HP printers, which works with everything else. I got that total down to $150, and still got all my beer and smokes, yeah. Last week we spent $174 on groceries, this week, $68 (we checked what we had in the cupboards/fridge this time before going), saved $100.
I could not be happier with this program and feel it’s worth every penny of its meager cost! If you struggle with living paycheck to paycheck and not having enough money for your bills, you can’t afford not to buy this! As someone who has not budgeted before, I find this software great for showing me where my money really goes, but I don’t find it intuitive to use. It shows nifty bar and pie graphs of my expenditures by month – I find the budgeting portion of the software confusing and not intuitive.
So I gave it a go. This package is delightfully user friendly. The reports functionality is a little weak compared to the rest of the program. You can put your YNAB database file in a shared Dropbox folder and use YNAB on multiple computers (eg home and office).
We felt safe making the investment b/c you can get your money back if you don’t like it. I’ll have to update this review in a few months to see how we’re still doing with it, but we just reached the end of month one and I can say that I am excited! But really, who plans for a car breaking down” Who plans for family emergencies”
Worth every penny! Just 6 months ago I hadn’t even heard of “You Need A Budget” (YNAB), but our financial situation was probably screaming out for one. When updates and enhancements are released, you get them automatically, not the next year, and it isn’t asking you to go out and buy the whole program again every year! Bottom line, way more value in YNAB than in anything else I have ever tried!
I have given up on just about every money management program out there. GENERATOR SOUNDPROOF ENCLOSURE.