financial planning

If you’ve ever tried to keep track of your spending with a budgeting app, you know that the initial motivation doesn’t always last. After a few weeks, categories get jumbled, transactions go uncategorized, and your carefully laid-out budget turns into chaos. At that point, you may be wondering if it’s even worth trying to salvage. 

 

In short: yes! Technology is a tool, and budgeting software exists to save you time and relieve some of your money stress. When you properly connect your accounts, organize transactions thoughtfully, and schedule time to review your budget, you can avoid confusion and know exactly where every dollar is going. 

 

In this second installment of my budgeting series, I will help you set up and — most importantly —  maintain your budgeting software to reach your financial goals. Ready to get started? Log in to Sensible Friends to access the full article and learn how to keep your budget running smoothly for the long haul. 

 

What you’ll learn: 

• The proper steps to connect your accounts and tailor your categories to reflect your real-life spending patterns from day one. 

• Optional tweaks like notifications, dashboards, and budgeting features to make your experience more user-friendly. 

• How to stay ahead of miscategorizations and keep tabs on your spending (without drowning in the details). 

• How to regularly check reports, compare your data to your broader financial goals, and know when it’s time to tweak your budget. 

• Tips for avoiding the all-too-common scenario of falling behind or abandoning the app after a few months. 

 

If you feel stuck on how to make the most of your budgeting software, you’re not alone. Log in to Sensible Friends to read the full article — and the entire budgeting series. With knowledge, a clear plan, and the right approach, you can turn any app into a powerful ally for saving, spending, and investing more confidently. 

 

Are you ready to go digital with your finances? This article is the first part of a general guide for using budgeting software. It will help you get the most out of the budget app you’ve chosen, starting with downloading the app and going through the initial setup. Once you’re confident with your setup, you can read the next article in the series to learn about maintaining a budget app. 

We’ll start with planning categories and deciding how to handle past transactions. Since your expenses are unique to you, you will need to customize the categories in your budgeting software to fit your specific lifestyle. Sensible Financial has a set of spending categories we use for financial planning, which are a good place to start. 

You’ll also need to decide whether, and how, to categorize past transactions. Categorizing past transactions can be overwhelming, but it can also help you get a head start on understanding your current expenses and how to budget in the future. Sensible Financial has some practical tips for when and how to categorize past transactions in your budgeting software. 

This article is exclusively for Sensible Financial members. To view the full article, log in or sign up for free. 

You’ll gain access to: 

• Sensible Financial’s list of spending categories 

• Questions to create your own custom spending category list 

• How to simplify spending categories to streamline your budgeting 

We hear from many clients that they started using a budgeting app and then abandoned it after a few months. This guide for getting the most from your budgeting software will help you make a budgeting app simple and useful enough to turn into a long-term habit. And if you are truly unsure where to start, Sensible Financial’s financial experts can also advise you on how to use budgeting software. We are here to help.