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Show HN: Simple Budgeting

61 points by clintonhalpin 8y ago

danalloway 8y ago
I have an addiction to trying out budgeting apps the moment I find a new one. It's like the search for the Holy Grail or something. I know that an app by itself isn't going to magically make budgeting a success, instead I see these them as sort of a financial sidekick, something that helps me out get out of my own way just enough so we can save the day (literally ). The description is accurate. Putz is the simplest of budget trackers. Categories / Expenses and a progress bar. Nice. Fun to play with but won't unseat my current toolset.
- poirier 8y ago
  What's your current toolset?
  - danalloway 8y ago
    Combination spreadsheet and YNAB.
    - TomK32 8y ago
      > Combination spreadsheet I'm curious about that, never heard of it. Can you elaborate or if you have a spreadsheet to share, my address is thomas@budget-fox.com (yes, I'm working on a household budget app) How do you measure "success" in your budgeting? Is it a short-term monthly basis or a longer one?
incadenza 8y ago
This seems great, but growing up among Yiddish speakers, this word has a very different connotation. Just worth being aware of.
- clintonhalpin 8y ago
  Yikes.... Quick google search is no good :(
- tootie 8y ago
  Putz literally means penis but is commonly used to as a pejorative for a foolish man. Then again "git" is British slang with similar usage and we all use that product.
- grgbrn 8y ago
  Not just yiddish, it's also common slang in many parts of the US to mean a very stupid or incompetent person. So yeah, terrible branding IMHO
  - namenotrequired 8y ago
    It’s a common swear word in Brazil too
- ravenstine 8y ago
  I'm not even Jewish and "putz!" is usually what I shout when I'm driving in heavy traffic. For all the emphasis we put on design principles and naming conventions, we collectively suck at naming our products. Then again, maybe that name is genius.
  - aloukissas 8y ago
    Wait till you learn what this means in Greek :D Hint: definitely NSFW
    - mszcz 8y ago
      Is it similar to the word "bro" in mandarin? :P
captn3m0 8y ago
A simple Privacy Policy would be appreciated, since this counts as a financial application for many.
zackify 8y ago
Reminds me of https://www.simple.com/features/expenses https://www.simple.com/features/expenses
- glial 8y ago
  I recently started using this and love it. It may sound silly, but I've found that the most effective way to stick to my budget is using a checking account for expenses that is separate from my direct-deposit account. Simple tells you how much money you have left (that isn't earmarked for something else), and that's it.
- lbotos 8y ago
  Was just gonna say that. Been a simple user since 2012 and it absolutely helped me make solid financial decisions. I'm starting to feel I've "outgrown" it, but it's been literally my hub since 2012. I also use Personal Capital, but Simple's new protected goal isn't exposed there, so I just... stopped using it.
wgerard 8y ago
Really cool! I'm also big into playing around with budget apps and seeing what works. Few suggestions I have from playing around with it: 1. It's not clear when I click the "add a budget" what it's for. There's the top-level "November 1-15" type of budget and then those budgets have categories, but the terminology could maybe use some work here. The term "budget" to me is usually synonymous with how you're using "categories" - e.g. we have a grocery budget. 2. I wasn't really expecting the ellipsis button to be a delete. I usually expect it to be like a context menu. In general it seems like the ellipsis button does different things in different locations, which is a bit of a bad pattern IMO. 3. There's a few spelling errors, e.g. "ammount" in the "add a budget" overlay 4. It's a bit weird that when you start a new budget it's immediately in the red (color-wise, at least). I feel like $0.00 left to spend should still be in the black. 5. "Track Spending" is only available for the first budget, but you can imagine that I might make next week's budget before this week is over, so it's a bit annoying that there's no "Track Spending" button on the previous budgets. I realize you can still click into the old budget, but still. 6. There's no way to edit expenses in the budget if I mistakenly add a wrong number, or if there is it's very unclear to me. 7. Negative numbers aren't allowed but you can imagine that this would be pretty useful for things like rebates or if I get a refund on something (though this is pretty related to the last item). Anyway, love the idea for sure! Short-term budgets are pretty helpful and not something that Mint really provides, so excellent idea.
- clintonhalpin 8y ago
  wgerard, you rule, Thanks for the detailed feedback! I fixed a few things this morning, mainly being able to delete expenses and typos for now.
dano 8y ago
Suggestions: - a default set of categories would be useful - I don't always add expenses immediately, so being able to change the date would useful. - the ... in the overview window prompts you to delete a budget! seems dangerous - ditto on another comment, there's no way to edit an expense. - It might be interesting to setup Income and then allocate budgets based on % of income to automatically calculate budget targets. Nice work.
raphinou 8y ago
Expense tracking seems to be a trend recently! I myself use HelloExpense [1] (just a happy user) and I recently developed a small tool to analyse my expenses. It handles a simple csv format (from the hello expense export, but could be generalised). I thought I might share it in this thread. If people are interested, I put a demo at https://expenses-analysis.herokuapp.com/ https://expenses-analysis.herokuapp.com/ About your website: I would have liked to get info without registering. The explanation is short, and the only links are to sign up or sign in. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.helloexpense&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.helloexpen...
symplee 8y ago
What percentage of people have the discipline to use this app, but lack financial discipline? Website: "You want new clothes, an iced coffee, but does it fit your budget?" Oh the irony if the user were to get ads for new clothes and iced coffee...
- TomK32 8y ago
  Extra points if you spill that coffee on your new clothes
DavideNL 8y ago
A little off-topic, but really wondering; am i the only one annoyed by the fact that 9 out of 10 apps these days are: 1. cloud based/harvesting as much data as possible and/or 2. subscriptions I prefer apps like for example Omnifocus [1], that give you: 1. the ability to client-side encrypt your data so your data won't be sold/misused, and 2. instead of making profit of selling your data, simply let you pay a larger amount upfront for it instead. Thus, you also know exactly what features you're paying for - as opposed to subscriptions... [1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnifocus-3/id1346190318?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnifocus-3/id1346190318?mt=...
- pcmaffey 8y ago
  What does a subscription business model have to do with selling of data? That would be correlated with an ad model.
  - edoceo 8y ago
    Presumably if selling the software direct to the consumer then you don't need to monitize off of eyeballs, ie: ads, data-resale
- KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
  Nobody wants to pay upfront. This is antithetical to what customers prefer.
  - latexr 8y ago
    You also pay upfront for subscriptions, although there’s usually a trial which is also a thing with non-subscription apps.
    - drusepth 8y ago
      You often pay much less upfront for a subscription than you do e.g. purchasing an app "full price". You might pay more over the lifetime of your subscription than you would paying full price for something, but in terms of your parent's comment, that is why a subscription is seen as preferred over paying for something upfront. For example, $7/mo is a lot more palatable than buying some software for $80, especially when you're in the stage of "I don't know if I'll use this or not".
stunt 8y ago
Thanks for sharing. The homepage doesn't provide enough information to convince the user to register. I saw a registration form without knowing anything about the service/app/features/prices/benefits.
- BeetleB 8y ago
  Same here.
deanclatworthy 8y ago
Good job on shipping something but I have to say that this space is soon going to be owned by the banking services who have the data on the category of your spending. And most importantly, requires no data input from myself. Revolut already does it, so does my bank.
TomK32 8y ago
Let me be frank here: The app is too simple, unpolished and I don't think you've used it for yourself long enough. Here's my list of complaints, please know that I'm working on a similar app with a lot more features: * no way to copy a budget (it's the same categories every month!) * colour scheme isn't that great (lack of contrast, but that might be me) * only $, no € or ¥. currency is a text-field! * no date on the stuff I spent, sure I could use the Note field but it's cool enough * can't "end" a budget prematurely. sure, there's "custom" but no big phat arrow pointing me at the same default which is "1st of this month to the end of this month". * can't do negative amounts. yes, I'd like to do that * having upcoming or past budgets feels weird, the blue (why blue?) "Track spending" button only shows for the oldest one. * no reports at all
rglover 8y ago
Great name.
sfotm 8y ago
I've gone through a few applications/services like this - YNAB, Mint, and a handful of Mac App Store applications that tried to accomplish more or less the same thing. They all requested some sort of subscription or hit me with ads every chance they got. Auto-import features usually end up being lack-luster for me as well, forcing me to log in every time or something along those lines. I've come to realize that for the gainfully employed, above-average computer user, Excel/Numbers/LibreOffce (but mostly Excel because of PivotTables) is probably the way to go for a few reasons: - You're looking for a post-mortem/retrospective on your spending as a way to adjust habits accordingly, not a way to pay off huge debts (YNAB is actually quite good for this latter part, but that's not what I'm looking to do) - You don't want some program's buggy workflows getting in your way when the data is /right there/ and basically just a table of CSV values - You want custom reports, charts, and other things - It's just really not that hard. Any bank will allow you to export financial data in CSV or a similar format. I just export my data every month and do a post-mortem. Easy enough. No extra cost.
- DLarsen 8y ago
  Are you the primary spender in your household or is it a team effort? I've found that what helps me may not help her due to different upbringings and mindsets about money. I agree with you that the CSV the primary valuable artifact. Most of the pie charts and such don't add any value. The real opportunity to improve lies in the thought process I face at each individual spending decision.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

61 points by clintonhalpin 8y ago

I have an addiction to trying out budgeting apps the moment I find a new one. It's like the search for the Holy Grail or something. I know that an app by itself isn't going to magically make budgeting a success, instead I see these them as sort of a financial sidekick, something that helps me out get out of my own way just enough so we can save the day (literally ). The description is accurate. Putz is the simplest of budget trackers. Categories / Expenses and a progress bar. Nice. Fun to play with but won't unseat my current toolset.

poirier 8y ago
What's your current toolset?
- danalloway 8y ago
  Combination spreadsheet and YNAB.
  - TomK32 8y ago
    > Combination spreadsheet I'm curious about that, never heard of it. Can you elaborate or if you have a spreadsheet to share, my address is thomas@budget-fox.com (yes, I'm working on a household budget app) How do you measure "success" in your budgeting? Is it a short-term monthly basis or a longer one?

incadenza 8y ago

This seems great, but growing up among Yiddish speakers, this word has a very different connotation. Just worth being aware of.

clintonhalpin 8y ago
Yikes.... Quick google search is no good :(
tootie 8y ago
Putz literally means penis but is commonly used to as a pejorative for a foolish man. Then again "git" is British slang with similar usage and we all use that product.
grgbrn 8y ago
Not just yiddish, it's also common slang in many parts of the US to mean a very stupid or incompetent person. So yeah, terrible branding IMHO
- namenotrequired 8y ago
  It’s a common swear word in Brazil too
ravenstine 8y ago
I'm not even Jewish and "putz!" is usually what I shout when I'm driving in heavy traffic. For all the emphasis we put on design principles and naming conventions, we collectively suck at naming our products. Then again, maybe that name is genius.
- aloukissas 8y ago
  Wait till you learn what this means in Greek :D Hint: definitely NSFW
  - mszcz 8y ago
    Is it similar to the word "bro" in mandarin? :P

captn3m0 8y ago

A simple Privacy Policy would be appreciated, since this counts as a financial application for many.

zackify 8y ago

Reminds me of https://www.simple.com/features/expenses https://www.simple.com/features/expenses

glial 8y ago
I recently started using this and love it. It may sound silly, but I've found that the most effective way to stick to my budget is using a checking account for expenses that is separate from my direct-deposit account. Simple tells you how much money you have left (that isn't earmarked for something else), and that's it.
lbotos 8y ago
Was just gonna say that. Been a simple user since 2012 and it absolutely helped me make solid financial decisions. I'm starting to feel I've "outgrown" it, but it's been literally my hub since 2012. I also use Personal Capital, but Simple's new protected goal isn't exposed there, so I just... stopped using it.

wgerard 8y ago

Really cool! I'm also big into playing around with budget apps and seeing what works. Few suggestions I have from playing around with it: 1. It's not clear when I click the "add a budget" what it's for. There's the top-level "November 1-15" type of budget and then those budgets have categories, but the terminology could maybe use some work here. The term "budget" to me is usually synonymous with how you're using "categories" - e.g. we have a grocery budget. 2. I wasn't really expecting the ellipsis button to be a delete. I usually expect it to be like a context menu. In general it seems like the ellipsis button does different things in different locations, which is a bit of a bad pattern IMO. 3. There's a few spelling errors, e.g. "ammount" in the "add a budget" overlay 4. It's a bit weird that when you start a new budget it's immediately in the red (color-wise, at least). I feel like $0.00 left to spend should still be in the black. 5. "Track Spending" is only available for the first budget, but you can imagine that I might make next week's budget before this week is over, so it's a bit annoying that there's no "Track Spending" button on the previous budgets. I realize you can still click into the old budget, but still. 6. There's no way to edit expenses in the budget if I mistakenly add a wrong number, or if there is it's very unclear to me. 7. Negative numbers aren't allowed but you can imagine that this would be pretty useful for things like rebates or if I get a refund on something (though this is pretty related to the last item). Anyway, love the idea for sure! Short-term budgets are pretty helpful and not something that Mint really provides, so excellent idea.

clintonhalpin 8y ago
wgerard, you rule, Thanks for the detailed feedback! I fixed a few things this morning, mainly being able to delete expenses and typos for now.

dano 8y ago

Suggestions: - a default set of categories would be useful - I don't always add expenses immediately, so being able to change the date would useful. - the ... in the overview window prompts you to delete a budget! seems dangerous - ditto on another comment, there's no way to edit an expense. - It might be interesting to setup Income and then allocate budgets based on % of income to automatically calculate budget targets. Nice work.

raphinou 8y ago

Expense tracking seems to be a trend recently! I myself use HelloExpense [1] (just a happy user) and I recently developed a small tool to analyse my expenses. It handles a simple csv format (from the hello expense export, but could be generalised). I thought I might share it in this thread. If people are interested, I put a demo at https://expenses-analysis.herokuapp.com/ https://expenses-analysis.herokuapp.com/ About your website: I would have liked to get info without registering. The explanation is short, and the only links are to sign up or sign in. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.helloexpense&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.helloexpen...

symplee 8y ago

What percentage of people have the discipline to use this app, but lack financial discipline? Website: "You want new clothes, an iced coffee, but does it fit your budget?" Oh the irony if the user were to get ads for new clothes and iced coffee...

TomK32 8y ago
Extra points if you spill that coffee on your new clothes

DavideNL 8y ago

A little off-topic, but really wondering; am i the only one annoyed by the fact that 9 out of 10 apps these days are: 1. cloud based/harvesting as much data as possible and/or 2. subscriptions I prefer apps like for example Omnifocus [1], that give you: 1. the ability to client-side encrypt your data so your data won't be sold/misused, and 2. instead of making profit of selling your data, simply let you pay a larger amount upfront for it instead. Thus, you also know exactly what features you're paying for - as opposed to subscriptions... [1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnifocus-3/id1346190318?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnifocus-3/id1346190318?mt=...

pcmaffey 8y ago
What does a subscription business model have to do with selling of data? That would be correlated with an ad model.
- edoceo 8y ago
  Presumably if selling the software direct to the consumer then you don't need to monitize off of eyeballs, ie: ads, data-resale
KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
Nobody wants to pay upfront. This is antithetical to what customers prefer.
- latexr 8y ago
  You also pay upfront for subscriptions, although there’s usually a trial which is also a thing with non-subscription apps.
  - drusepth 8y ago
    You often pay much less upfront for a subscription than you do e.g. purchasing an app "full price". You might pay more over the lifetime of your subscription than you would paying full price for something, but in terms of your parent's comment, that is why a subscription is seen as preferred over paying for something upfront. For example, $7/mo is a lot more palatable than buying some software for $80, especially when you're in the stage of "I don't know if I'll use this or not".

stunt 8y ago

Thanks for sharing. The homepage doesn't provide enough information to convince the user to register. I saw a registration form without knowing anything about the service/app/features/prices/benefits.

BeetleB 8y ago
Same here.

deanclatworthy 8y ago

Good job on shipping something but I have to say that this space is soon going to be owned by the banking services who have the data on the category of your spending. And most importantly, requires no data input from myself. Revolut already does it, so does my bank.

TomK32 8y ago

Let me be frank here: The app is too simple, unpolished and I don't think you've used it for yourself long enough. Here's my list of complaints, please know that I'm working on a similar app with a lot more features: * no way to copy a budget (it's the same categories every month!) * colour scheme isn't that great (lack of contrast, but that might be me) * only $, no € or ¥. currency is a text-field! * no date on the stuff I spent, sure I could use the Note field but it's cool enough * can't "end" a budget prematurely. sure, there's "custom" but no big phat arrow pointing me at the same default which is "1st of this month to the end of this month". * can't do negative amounts. yes, I'd like to do that * having upcoming or past budgets feels weird, the blue (why blue?) "Track spending" button only shows for the oldest one. * no reports at all

rglover 8y ago

Great name.

sfotm 8y ago

I've gone through a few applications/services like this - YNAB, Mint, and a handful of Mac App Store applications that tried to accomplish more or less the same thing. They all requested some sort of subscription or hit me with ads every chance they got. Auto-import features usually end up being lack-luster for me as well, forcing me to log in every time or something along those lines. I've come to realize that for the gainfully employed, above-average computer user, Excel/Numbers/LibreOffce (but mostly Excel because of PivotTables) is probably the way to go for a few reasons: - You're looking for a post-mortem/retrospective on your spending as a way to adjust habits accordingly, not a way to pay off huge debts (YNAB is actually quite good for this latter part, but that's not what I'm looking to do) - You don't want some program's buggy workflows getting in your way when the data is /right there/ and basically just a table of CSV values - You want custom reports, charts, and other things - It's just really not that hard. Any bank will allow you to export financial data in CSV or a similar format. I just export my data every month and do a post-mortem. Easy enough. No extra cost.

DLarsen 8y ago
Are you the primary spender in your household or is it a team effort? I've found that what helps me may not help her due to different upbringings and mindsets about money. I agree with you that the CSV the primary valuable artifact. Most of the pie charts and such don't add any value. The real opportunity to improve lies in the thought process I face at each individual spending decision.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]