Without budgeting, no nation will be where they are today. So if every country and organization budget before they spend money, why would you not do the same thing? The problem we have in this generation is not lack of money or low earning potential, in fact, there is more money to go round if one can work a little bit harder.

We are not poor because we don't have money, but we have no idea where our money is going. What we should spend on that is giving us value and what is not.

No, no one is saying we should not enjoy good things that life have to offer, but far too often, we are not spending consciously. It has gotten to an extent that we spend money we never earned on things we don't need.

Personally, reading is the main means for self development in my opinion, I read for pleasure as much as for knowledge. Most renowned authors in finance book category talk about saving as the first most important step to having true financial freedom. Alright, how can you invest when you don't have savings? It is tough, right? Yes, I know.

Money and Finance -CC-

Saving is harder if you cannot cut spending, you have to be aware of what you are spending on. Many people hate the word budgeting, they believe that it takes fun out of life. I have a friend who often say 'I can't burst my brain because of frugality.' You can actually enjoy life while sticking with your budget, your approach matters.

Sometimes in the middle of last year, I was in debt. I began to pay back the money on weekly basis till I cleared 80% of entire debt, then I vowed to avoid similar debt in future. I opened a target savings account to save for emergency and investment, but my spending habit is killing me. Luckily, I came across Budget Watch*, an android application. Is it going to be a lifesaver? Only time will tell, but one thing is sure, I am already using it and like its functionalities so far.

This article will focus on;

• What Budget Watch is
• How to create and mange budget
• How to create transaction and mange it

Later on, maybe in another article where I will share my testimony using this open source mobile application, I will talk about revenue. But for now, let us stick with budgeting and how to input transactions.

Budget Watch is a user friendly mobile app that allow you to have absolute control of your spending, it comes with tool that enable users to create budget without getting them bored, they can enter daily transaction without any Knowledge of accounting and finance.

Create Budget

When app is launched or opened as the case may be, this interface will come up, showing Budget, Transactions, plus sign (+), opposite direction arrows and settings icon. Click on budgeting, here you can create and manage your budget as you like. Guess what? There is no limit to number of budget that you can create.

• When I clicked on budget, it opened almost an empty page, but I knew that I had to fill it with my budget. I clicked on '+' sign and I started creating budget. The app sorted it alphabetically, that's the default. As you can see in the screenshot, I created my first set of budget, things that I spend money on every month. What's next when I clicked on +?
• Another page where I added budget name and value opened. If what you are budgeting for is food, type food and add amount that you are willing to spend on food in appropriate box. In my case I will be spending 53,000 on airtime.

When budget is created, next is to remember to register all transactions in the app.

Transactions

Budgeting is nothing if you don't input your transactions, that's the best way to keep track of your spending, otherwise, the entire purpose of downloading the app would be defeated. Everything that you spend money on must be recorded, don't carry it over till next day, procrastination will set in. Human brain cannot store accumulated record of daily transaction over a long time.

• when I clicked on 'Transaction', another page opened, which is Revenues and Expenses page. I clicked on expenses, then plus sign (+) to add my expenses (what I have spent money on).

• A page opened with the following boxes; Name, Budget, Account, Value, Note, Date and Receipt. Simply fill the boxes as they matter to you. The most important boxes are Name, Budget and Value- they make it possible for the app to deduct transaction from budget. To keep track of what I have spent on, more vividly, I included the account from which I debited the money from, I took note of the transaction purpose.
  NB: If you have the receipt, you may upload it picture into the app, for more accurate record keeping.

An image look like floppy disk on top right corner of the app, click on it. Your transaction will be saved and automatically remove the value from your budget. If your expenses is more than your budget, don't be afraid, the idea is to have a record of how you spend, so that you can make necessary adjustment in your finance.

Final Words On Budget Watch Mobile App

The developer has done a great job in creating welcome slide that gives hint on how to use the app to new users, this is nice. I love the image, it reminds me of piggyback, then drive home the point that when you budget well, you can save more.
I can access the start intro at any moment to know how to use the app. This is cool.

The import functionality is good for those who would love to have their records on spreadsheets for more analysis. Also every information can be imported on, device storage, Google drive and Drop box. So this makes it difficult for users to lose their records even when device is misplaced.

Features That I Would Love To See In The App

• Negative sign (-) or alert when expenses are beyond Budget
• Welcome message every time the app is opened
• Option to sort the budget list by date/time

Versions

Links

Source code: https://github.com/brarcher/budget-watch
My Github Profile: https://github.com/autofreak
Series Backlink: Nil