Once we had our budget established, we wanted to do our best to stay on track. We had read about Dave Ramsey’s envelope system and liked the idea, but weren’t quite ready to go full force with it.

Instead we decided to go with a similar idea, but not as much cash is involved: Budget Envelopes App by Mobile Innovations LLC.  It’s a free app, but is limited to only about 25 transactions and then if decide to continue to use it, you upgrade to the full package {I think it was about $2.99}.

I found the app easy to use. You set up your “envelopes” {we just pulled categories and totals from our budget sheet} and whenever you have a transaction, you enter it into the specific category.  Below you can see how the different categories are laid out {all screenshots are from the app website}.

It also gives you the option to export reports, pie graphs, and other items to help with documenting.

So far it has been really good for us to use this system because not only do we have our budget on us at all times, but we also get to learn about each others spending habits and it helps us talk about our spending more – something I have found important to do as a newlywed.

What things do you use to help stick to a budget?