EveryDollar: Budget Management

I have been using every dollar since it launched. It replaced the other two or three budgeting apps that I had previously used and there has been no going back. It’s updated very regularly and is produced by a good-sized company where their whole focus is helping people get control of their finances, so the regular updates are always going to be the case. I usually set up the budget for the month on my computer and then do updates throughout the month on my phone while I am on the go. I have set up new budgets on the phone and it works great too, I am just on a computer all day every day for work so it is habit I guess. The app is very intuitive and easy to use. There is an extra feature called EveryDollar Plus that is available for a fee each month to integrate your bank data and the expenses that your bank sees so that you can quickly categorize them with a few taps into the correct budget categories so that you don’t have to manually enter each transaction. I did a trial of EveryDollar Plus when the app first launched and decided not to use it. So I have been using the free version for the last year and a half or two years since the app launched. It’s probably about time I give every dollar plus another try since it’s probably going to be a bit different since all of the updates that they have done since I used it last. Great app that I use all the time! This is one app that I could not do without on my iPhone.

This app and corresponding desktop interface is by far the best out there. It’s very customizable. I’ve never been good at budgeting because I get paid bi-weekly and I have a variable income. I also travel unexpectedly for my job which throws off my budget by adding reimbursable expenses throughout the month. Through the help and suggestions of the everydollar support staff, I know now how to work this app as an effective tool with all those budgeting variables. You work your current month budget with the paychecks from the previous month. Then I keep a “hill and vallley” account with just enough to cover any short months where my checks may not cover expenses. So far I haven’t had to use that account. For the travel expenses, I created an expense and income category of reimbursable expenses. I know how much I get per day for meals while traveling and I simply add that to the reimbursable lines as the month/travel has gone on. This has been a huge money saver for me. I’m controlling every aspect of my finances by budgeting. It’s the foundation for everything I’m doing with my money. And I highly recommend spending the $120 for financial peace university which as of now includes everydollar plus for a year. Worth. Every. Penny. (And no I don’t work for Dave Ramsey but it’s a great program for getting out of debt)

ask user to change the rating

I do like this app and it has helped me keep track of my spending much better than I had been. It also shows me how much I am really spending on items that I can cut back on, like eating out. Before, I really didn't realize how much we were spending and now I can see it add up as the month goes on. I like being able to split transactions into different categories to track each cost. But the help section is lacking and there was no real tutorial that I saw so I kind of had to learn as I went. The one thing I still can not get an answer to is the income. I can put in a planned amount but sometimes our income is more or less. When I put the actual received amount in as a transaction, it doesn't change my overall monthly amount. So it doesn't account for the over/under. This may be user error, but I've tried everything to get it to work properly and it won't. So I just change the planned amount to what we get paid. Which is fine, although the next month's budget shows the wrong amounts as planned income and I have to change, and it is not at all what the help section says should happen. It seems like the plus version would do it for me, but I am not paying $120 a year for an app to help me budget and save money. And honestly, I think that is shady of Dave Ramsey to even do that considering he preaches about cutting out unnecessary expenses. I'd give this app 4 stars but the lacking help section and fee for everydollar plus makes it lose at least 1 star.

If you’re serious about keeping tabs on your budget, this app is a must-have! The free version is nice. However, for $100 per year, you can link your bank and or credit card accounts to track your spending. The app reminds you to create a budget for an upcoming month two or three days before the new month starts! It automatically copies the previous month’s info which makes it easy to tweak budget items and amounts. The app is intuitive because you can create a fund (like a Christmas gift shopping fund, or a vacation fund) and tuck money away each month knowing that when it’s time to pay for that cruise, you can easily transfer the funds and pay without worry. The app also allows you to enter long-term payment accounts; car loan information for example, can be entered and you can more or less keep track of what is owed, on the app. This has made life so much easier for my family! I love Excel, but for $100 per year, I don’t have to spend hours each month tracking where the money went!! Thank you Mr. Ramsey!!

response required

I really want to like it more. The User Interface is a plus for me. Conceptually I like this app way better than any of the others I have used. If you want to only use the free version and add all of your transactions it works great. My issues are with the paid version, and downloading transactions from my bank. I started using it and loved the app. After a couple of months I started to notice transactions missing. I started paying more attention, and compared it to a competitor who I still have my accounts linked to. The competitor shows all transactions, and EveryDollar does not. I put a request into support, and received feedback that they weren’t experiencing any issues with my bank. Was asked to update my login information with my bank to see if that would resolve the issue. I did this and went another couple of weeks having the same issue. I emailed again, and never received a response. I let it go for a little bit, and then emailed again. It has been more than two days, and still no response. My biggest issue is TRUST. If I can’t trust the transactions that are being downloaded, the app becomes useless, and doesn’t allow me to budget correctly. Again, I really want to like this app, but can’t if the version I paid for doesn’t work appropriately.