
How I took control of my personal finances. Simplicity in money saving - koshyk
https://medium.com/@tomkoszyk/how-i-took-control-of-my-personal-finances-simplicity-in-money-saving-d7315830a758#.hfghbuyqj
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joshstrange
This is a huge, typo-filled Ad...

If you want a good budgeting tool look no further than YNAB [0] it's done
wonders for me in tracking where my money is going how much I am spending in
various categories as well as a good birds eye view of my finances (which even
mint couldn't do well)

[0] [http://www.youneedabudget.com/](http://www.youneedabudget.com/) (Though I
suggest you use
[http://classic.youneedabudget.com/](http://classic.youneedabudget.com/) as
the web version just isn't there yet IMHO)

~~~
koshyk
I tried to proof read everything, but if you found any typos, I'd be delighted
if you could point them out!

~~~
lawpoop
You could copy and paste it into a word editor. I just did that with MS Word
and it highlighted several misspellings for me.

Also in FF, a textarea box will show misspellings.

Or do you not have English dictionaries installed on your PC? (It's hard for
me to get in the habit of remembering the internet is world-wide :S )

~~~
koshyk
Done this. You'd be surprised how many misspellings it didn't catch.

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herge
When I was a young single man, I had an effective way to track my personal
finances. At the start of the month, I'd calculate how much money I had left
over after fixed expenses (rent, internet, etc) and whatever savings I wanted
for that week.

I'd then divide that by 4, and 4 times a month, I'd withdraw that amount in
cash from my account, and use that for discretionary spending like going out,
groceries, etc. That way, I could tell myself by just looking in my wallet:
"OK, I went out for drinks twice already this week, I have 40$ left, I'll keep
it easy until Monday."

~~~
koshyk
sounds both oldschool and fun, but i suppose it doesn't work for a grown up
man with some obligations ;)

~~~
jacobr1
It still works. Things like childcare just come out of the fixed expenses that
are preallocated (or from cafeteria plan). I more or less take this same
approach - except I use a mileage credit card. I have a self imposed budget
limit and use my smartphone to ensure I'm staying below that amount for the
month.

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rloc
I don't understand how people manage to log every purchase they make and keep
on a budget (this app is no different). I find it so inefficient and time
consuming. I can't even plan a budget.

I prefer to focus on how much money I can actually save every month. Much
simpler and easier to manage. Best is to put that money aside on the 1st of
each month and see if you can stick to it.

Then choosing what to spend less on to improve that saving every month is by
questioning the usefulness of the purchase (Will I use it? Will it make me
happier? Will it improve my productivity? Will it allow me to create wealth?
etc.).

Try to keep your living standard below what your income could afford. On the
long run you'll save money and live happier.

~~~
galfarragem
My method is similar: Monthly I fill a spreadsheet with my "book value". If my
"book value" keeps growing, everything is ok.

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qwzybug
"I didn't have time to actually make or keep a budget, or learn anything about
the topic, so I spent six months writing an app that is basically Mint, but
slightly prettier, and worse." Don't ever change, tech dudes!

~~~
koshyk
Well, I guess you can't tell for sure if it's worse than Mint before using it.
If it's prettier (as you said) and its UI is more intuitive there's a chance
it can be better, at least in some aspects.

I guess you're right, I didn't have time to make a budget but have some to
design an app because by doing this I learned a lot when it comes to design,
and after all I earn money by designing things. So it's a win-win

~~~
qwzybug
Right back atcha, bro; your willful ignorance of the topic or any other
solution is, I would say, a focus of your piece.

Done:

[x] Identify a problem ("overpaid millennial techies don't keep track of their
spending because they just can't be arsed")

[x] Waste a bunch of time shipping a mobile app six people will ever use

[x] Write self-important, poorly-copyedited Medium post

These are the most visible parts of the design process, but they won't get you
success unless you're reeeeeally good in a room with some pretty rich, dumb
motherfuckers. (I am made to understand this is getting harder and harder
lately.)

Not done:

[ ] Hard stuff?

[ ] Research design process: what else happens??? (<\- this sounds hard)

The difficult, meaningful stuff no one really seems to give much of a shit
about anymore. Except, of course, the people making good and interesting work
that will actually matter a few years from now, and not just destroy a bunch
of wealth and effort. But they don't write Medium posts.

Be more like them.

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caseysoftware
The steps are easy:

1\. Make a budget.

2\. Stick to it.

If you need a little more pressure, stop using credit cards in favor of cash.
There's something powerful about realizing you have less of something every
time you get a cup of coffee. It will slow you down and make you think "do I
really want this?"

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ibero
This is basically an ad.

~~~
new_hackers
If people are looking for an app, I'd recommend YNAB

[https://www.youneedabudget.com/](https://www.youneedabudget.com/)

It has worked for me. Dead simple philosophy: the money you earn this month
you get to spend next month. Helps break the cycle of debt, and also has given
me visibility into my daily spending.

~~~
joshstrange
Seconded, I'm a big fan of YNAB (classic, web isn't ready yet)

~~~
NeonVice
I love YNAB and would love to use it in the cloud. It's a shame that it is
isn't up to snuff yet and is $45/year. It would be great if someone came out
with a cloned competitor.

~~~
mrlase
I started working on one a week ago.

What are the main features you'd like to see that were left out from YNAB 4?

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davidwparker
First of all, congrats on taking control of your finances!

Also, good luck with the forthcoming app launch.

Sad to see the top responses didn't celebrate what you've done but instead
complained that you are putting out an app.

I'd suggest going deeper into your philosophy of why you only need 7 main
categories. How did you decide on those exact 7? Where would you classify:
giving, investing, and short-term savings (tech replacement, saving for an
anniversary, etc).

Edit: as mentioned elsewhere, there are a bunch of typos too. "taht" instead
of "that", etc.

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ianstormtaylor
The app looks interesting! I'm nt sure if I'd stick to entering in every
purchase, but I'd be willing to try. Worst case you could add Plaid
integration as an option too. I do think there is value in simplifying way
more than Mint.

One idea I had recently was for a similar interaction, but instead of for
expenses it would be for every time you "saved" money. So for example, if you
were in the super market and saw some $5 cookies and debated buying them. If
you decided not to, since you wanted to save that money instead, you'd open
then app and quickly enter $5. It would keep a tally of all of the savings you
had instead of the expenses, to incentivize that mentality.

You might be able to easily incorporate that already (or I could after signing
up) by adding a "Savings" category. But if there are any places where expenses
are graphed or totaled it would need to be discounted.

Anyways, congrats and good luck with the launch! I like how clean it feels.

~~~
koshyk
Thanks for the advice! Right now, we;re working on MVP version of the app, but
there are some things on the roadmap already. I'd definitely think about this
feature!

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rcarrigan87
I try to spend around $600/mth on food, gas, drinks and other entertainment.
This works out to roughly $20/day. I keep a running tally in my head day to
day on what I've spent and try to stay around $20/day.

This is not a great tracking method, but just having the idea of $20/day in
the back of my head curbs my spending a great deal.

~~~
sea6ear
I wrote up my system in another thread - I do almost exactly the same thing,
except it's $40 a day for me, my wife and 2 kids. The only difference is we
actually "pay out" the money each day, and only spend from what we've
accumulated from that day and previous days.

~~~
rcarrigan87
I really like that way of keeping a running tally.

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_droptable_
Regardless of whether it is an ad or not: You missed a huge chance by
submitting to HN before having the app ready. I find the idea of only a few
categories appealing, but if I wanted to do this _right now_ I would probably
go look for an app that is available _right now_. I want to test your app for
a week or so, give feedback and move on if it doesn't work. Not too keen on
signing up on a mailinglist for an app that will "someday" be ready, unless
I'm very excited about it or the app is the first one to solve a specific
problem. Attention spans are short!

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bartvk
This also works best for me. Write it down straight away. Not some evening, or
in the weekend, but right away. I got into the habit because I wanted to save
5 months of expenses before starting as a freelancer.

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WorkingClassDev
I have two accounts and a spreadsheet.

Money goes into one account, then I work out all my expenses for the month,
rent, petrol, food, isp bills etc. This amount is then transferred to my bill
paying account. As the month wears on this account is depleted automatically
as bills are taken then next month I refill it.

The other account is a play money account. Anything I need/want during the
month comes out of this. At the end of the month any left over is transferred
into a saving account.

Been doing this for 15 years and it works pretty well for me.

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shallowpedantic
I'd recommend a combination of billguard and mint. Mainly billguard, both
free. billguard allows you to add your debit/credit card accounts. when you
make a purchase, bill guard notifies you. it will group your spending habits
into different categories. at the end of every week, bill guard notifies you
by email with a message similar to this "you have spent $400 this week etc.
etc. going into the app itll show you where the money you spent went to. this
is a great way to determine how much money you go through a weekly basis.

~~~
koshyk
still have to check Mint. Maybe it'll make me cancel Blinq development, or
give some great ideas!

~~~
shallowpedantic
I would hope you won't cancel your app development. your app looks very
intuitive and simplistic, the UI clean as well. didn't mean to overshadow your
accomplishments. only a suggestion for an alternative.

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peter303
I did this with a single sheet of engineering graph paper in the 1980s. Rows
were spending categories and columns were months and annual summaries. I
spreadsheeted it in the 1990s and clouded it in the 2010s. Simple and powerful
if you can see it all on one page. Takes just minutes a month. Most the mobile
apps I'ver seen use too small screenfulls. And I DONT TRUST THEM INTO MY WEB
ACCOUNTS like Mint wants to do.

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xyzzy4
The easiest way to budget is just stop spending money on stupid stuff, and
don't live somewhere with high rent. Don't make large purchases, except
perhaps a condo or house so you don't have to pay rent anymore. You don't need
to write anything down or manually keep track of stuff in an app. Your online
account balances automatically keep track for you. This isn't rocket science.

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sosuke
I have to separate Food into Eating Out and Groceries. I value cooking at home
much higher than I do eating out.

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pinkunicorn
TL;DR - Categorize your spendings to at max 5-7. See where you spend max money
and try to optimize for it.

