Budgeting: Set budgets for spending categories?

[timothyoesch]

I use ezbookkeeping as my personal budgeting solution. It'd be amazing if there was a way to set budgets for categories to see how my spending compares to my budget. The «simplest» way would be to set budgets for categories every month, but I think it'd be even greater if one could set a general budget but be able to adjust those for each month. Maybe that would be a new analysis type or it could be a feature in the spending statistics in general.

[mayswind]

I'm sorry to say that ezBookkeeping has no plans to add a budgeting feature.

When I designed ezBookkeeping, the goal was not to create a tool that restricts users, but rather one that helps people record the beautiful moments of life through every transaction.

Life is not a business, there are no cost centers, no financial statements, no amortization, and there shouldn't be budgets either. Be happier, and don't let rigid rules hold you back.

[timothyoesch]

That response made me chuckle 😄
On the one hand: I think that's a beautiful sentiment. On other hand: In my opinion, budgeting is not what's restricting people, but what's giving them (I speak for myself here) the ability to spend money without worrying about overspending. And since we're already doing a bit of folk-philosophy here: I don't think that in a capitalist system, recording transactions is giving people any joy. But hey, fair point. Guess I'll keep using it the way I am using it already.

[mayswind]

Many budgeting apps claim to help users save money. Frankly speaking, for individual users, software cannot really do that, and the formation of good habits ultimately depends on oneself.

I'd like to add why I say ezBookkeeping is a tool for recording the beautiful moments in life. For example, when you discover a great restaurant while you're out, ezBookkeeping lets you record the location and attach photos. You can open the mobile version and capture everything right after paying the bill.

ezBookkeeping also provides powerful statistics & analysis features to help you review past transactions more effectively, that you may uncover many good memories, gain insights into how to plan your spending better, or even notice that your income is gradually increasing and your life is steadily improving.