Based on my experience at least, YNAB (You Need A Budget -- <a href="http://www.youneedabudget.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.youneedabudget.com/</a>) is the best budgeting software out there. It's a lot more complex than this, and unlike something like Mint it does require you to manually enter transactions.<p>However, it is really the best interface I've found for setting a budget. Probably the best feature is that it can naturally incorporate overspending. If you set your grocery budget to $200 and you spend $250, YNAB isn't just like "yo, reduce your grocery spending." It remembers that you overspent by $50 and encourages you to incorporate that into next month's budget in a flexible way.<p>Unless you're a multimillionaire, you can probably benefit from using it. In fact, even if you are quite wealthy, plenty of celebrities have demonstrated repeatedly that it's still possible to go broke in just a few years.
One trick I found really helped me curb thoughtless spending in the past was calculating the cost of purchases based not on the sticker price, but on the sticker price + whatever the compounded interest would be for the same amount of money on my mortgage. (At the time our interest rate was 5% with about 27.5 years left on our mortgage, so it effectively doubled the price of everything.) The thought was that if we spent that money vs. putting it on the mortgage, we were essentially locking those dollars in to being charged interest for the life of the loan. It doesn't take into account re-financing, etc., but it was a lot easier not to buy $10 smoothies vs. $5 ones. :-)
I'm finding the terminology a little strange for this one..<p>"Helps you love how you spend every dollar"? While I get the gist of what you're saying, it makes my head hurt a little bit.<p>Am on Android (Moto G) and every time I tapped the goal amount text box, it requested me to "Rotate device to portrait" despite my portrait lock being turned on, so was unable to add a goal amount.<p>I like the idea of this app but not quite sure it works for me. I need more than a pretty picture to keep me motivated to save! :) Good luck with it though.
I love it! A big part of my financial philosophy is based on a similar thought exercise:<p><i>Before you make an impulsive decision, imagine a stranger walks up to you. In one hand, he has the thing you're about to buy. In the other hand, he has the amount of money you are about to spend. He will give you one or the other for free with absolutely no catch. Which one do you take?</i><p>Besides that, I like the "hold to add cash" interface and I like that it's a mobile web platform (although I hope an Android widget is in the works). Hopefully they can get their server problems ironed out soon.
I love the sentiment!<p>I'll try this out when I have more time later, but I think it's worth noting that, of course, saving is only part of the equation. There is so much you can (and should) do to reduce expenses outside of the mundane day-to-day, as well! For great advice on pursuing financial independence or betterment, much of which has changed my life and habits, see: <a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/</a> "Financial Freedom Through Badassity"
I opened this on my iPad expecting to find an app store link at their m.trykeep.com. I did not find one, instead I found a web page that kept asking me to touch and interact with it, but that barely wanted to react. I had to tap and hold 7 times to get the first "example" to work, and then closed it and gave up after 5 attempts on the second.<p>I could not find it in the app store either, so is this a browser based solution? If so, I highly recommend getting the touch sensitivity worked out on chrome on the browser.<p>I do realize this may be load based from your servers getting hit and so if I remember I will try again later.<p>Also, I get the impression this might require requires server connectivity, if it does then you're excluding so many people without data plans.<p>I like the idea, just couldn't get the execution to actually work for me in a way I'd consider using it.
I think it's great. I love the simplicity and the UI. A lot of times we over complicate things. This is a great example of getting back to basics. I'd argue that this is not budgeting software, nor should it be. Instead, it's a way for users to stop and think about what they are buying and ask themselves if they really need to make the purchase.<p>I know someone who buys two drinks at Starbucks every day. To them, this was about $7/per day. No big deal. I quickly did the math and showed her the result, $2555 per year. Sometimes, perspective is a huge motivator.<p>Also, nice job on the design and web based app. I'm happy that I simply needed to navigate to a URL on my phone. I didn't have to install another app, grant permissions etc. etc..<p>Great work! Good luck!
Pretty neat. I'm also working on a side project in the same vein. The key to improving spending behavior in my own household has been to focus on and evaluate decisions. <a href="http://www.spendlight.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.spendlight.com/</a><p>My approach is a bit broader in that I find it useful to record both the good and bad decisions with a view toward improvement.<p>I also prompt users for a bit of self-evaluation. When you goof, you are asked something like "What could you have done without in order to stay within your limits?" When you do well, you are asked something like "What was the key to making wise choices today?"<p>I'm not a big fan of the input mechanism. It's novel and fun, but I'd bet that the fun wears out quickly.
I've made something to track spending on a weekly basis. I've found that most budget apps are too heavy, and most run on a monthly cycle. I can easily calculate rough figures for fixed income and expenses, I just need something to track spending money. Doing a budget by week is much easier to track and plan, and makes it easier to answer the question "Can I afford this?". Anyway, here is the Android app: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewovens.weeklybudget" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewoven...</a><p>And the mobile app: <a href="https://budgetapp.azurewebsites.net/" rel="nofollow">https://budgetapp.azurewebsites.net/</a>
The app is clever, but as somebody with long-time interest in personal finance, I feel the premise is a bit on the wrong side. Avoiding bad buys doesn't mean the same sum is now somehow free to spend. You need to <i>both</i> avoid bad buys <i>and</i> have a sane budget with money allocated for your needs and wants - which should come out of real money you earn, not imaginary money you "saved" when not buying what you didn't need anyway.<p>Otherwise it reminds me a joke about a man who brags to his wife that he saved money by running after the bus instead of taking it and paying the fare. The wife says - next time run after a taxi, you'd save more! Unfortunately, savings don't work exactly like that.
I really really like it. I see the value and have signed up and added to my homescreen. Truly a great interface compared to typing out numbers.<p>Also I really want to turn this into an iOS app! There's some cool stuff you can do with it natively, like add a buzz + sound when you save a buck, which sure would feel satisfying (ever used the task management app Clear?). Let me know if you wanna go that way and I'd be happy to put a weekend towards it.
A direct input would be nice. It took me five seconds to keep eight dollars by holding, but it could have taken only one second with direct input. Any particular reason that it's limited to this mechanic?<p>Also, it seems to be stuck on the eight dollar screen. It keeps asking me to hold to $8, but never shows me a new photo. This is the stock Note 3 browser.<p>EDIT: Now I can't even get it to register $3. Perhaps we are hugging the site too hard.
FYI, it looks like the mobile site has some issues in IE on Windows Phone. The white text is a bit hard to read with the background image [1], and refreshing the page results in this [2]. Looking forward to trying it out though!<p>[1]: <a href="http://imgur.com/vtp2PnZ" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/vtp2PnZ</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://imgur.com/3iEI4kw" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/3iEI4kw</a>
This is a cool idea. My bank recently introduced a similar feature in their mobile app. You can move a small amount of money from your current account to your savings account in a couple of clicks (no need to log in): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xjelPXqWo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xjelPXqWo</a>
I really like this idea for more than just money. I think having a habit like this to get rewarded to focus on long term goals over short term rewards would be awesome to have.<p>It will be interesting to see if they can create a reward system good enough to be effective.
I think its very clever. I really like how your example takes me through the steps first, then asks to sign me up for an account.<p>Much better than asking to create an account first, then walk me through the app.
it's really annoying that you wont allow me to open m.trykeep.com on my desktop.. without even telling me why I can't .. simply redirecting to the not-mobile page where I was before is asking the end-user to go away, like I did
mint.com, while not really innovating...at all...anymore... is still pretty nice for tracking your various accounts, including investments and debts (student loans, etc)
nexus 4: goal amount: this will cost
put cursor in field
keyboard opens
window registers as landscape due to width/height problem
keyboard closes
repeat.
Wow. You've taken a key insight and created something that directly hits the emotions of your users. You're engaging their feelings, passions, and desires. It will be nice to see how your website, communications, and even your product evolves!