My old budget system was a shoebox full of gas station receipts

For about three years, I tracked my spending by just throwing every single receipt into a literal shoebox. I'd dig through it once a month, trying to sort coffee from groceries, and my 'budget' was just a vague feeling of dread. The change came when I spilled a soda on the box and had to peel apart a sticky wad of 87 receipts. I switched to a free app on my phone that same day. Now I put in every purchase as I leave the store, and it sorts everything automatically. I can actually see where my money goes, which is mostly to tacos. Has anyone else made a jump from a totally physical system to a digital one and been shocked by the data?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanh522mo ago

So which free app did you end up using? I tried a few and they all felt like too much work.

susan_wright342mo ago

Look at the app's permission list before you download anything. I found one that wanted access to my entire photo library just to make a simple to-do list, which seems like a lot. Dylanh52, you're right about them feeling like work, and I think some apps are designed to be annoying so you pay to remove ads or get basic features. Ended up just using my phone's built-in notes app because at least it doesn't try to sell me anything.

kellys782mo ago

Yeah, that's a really good point from susan_wright34 about checking permissions. I used a budgeting app that asked for my location all the time, not just when I was at a store. It felt creepy, like it was tracking my whole day just to sort my spending. I switched to one that only needs me to take a picture of the receipt, which feels a lot simpler and safer.