For over a decade now, I’ve managed my finances through an envelope system (dividing income into budgeted spending categories), and I’ve found it to be very helpful – keeping us out of debt, helping us to spend within our income, and helping Keri and I not fight about money. Unfortunately, there aren’t many solutions out there that make it easy to do while also using credit and debit cards (we pay off the balance each month). I started out using a spreadsheet, but switched to software about eight years ago. It worked great at the time, but it still required several hours of work each week to stay current.
A couple of months ago, I started searching for a replacement to my out-of-date software. I began with Quicken and a few others, but it was challenging to get them to really use an envelope system.
Then, about three weeks ago, I stumbled upon a system called Mvelopes that is absolutely terrific.
- It’s web-based, so I don’t have to worry about crashes or updates.
- It’s very easy to set up and use.
- It connects to my bank accounts and saves me the effort of having to manually enter expenditures.
It’s not cheap, but there’s a free trial. For the time this is saving me each week, it’s worth the money.
If you have challenges keeping up with your money and sticking to a budget, you really should give this a try.
Here are some videos that show you how it works.
And, lastly, before you ask: No, I’m not getting any kind of kickback for this post. :) I’m just putting this on here with the hope that it will be a useful resource for others like it has been for me.