Yeah, I was hesitant at first too, but it paid for itself after the first month with the money we saved. They do have a 30 day trial to give you a chance to see if you like it or not.

How long to set up if you already have a budget documented in Excel? Trying to decide if I could knock it out on a weeknight or have to wait until the weekend.

Here's a question. What if you don't know how much to budget towards something?

For instance, starting in February, I'll be the owner of a cat...I don't know what the repeat monthly cost of the cat nor the surprise (vet) costs of the cat are.

How do you go about something like that?

As a matter of fact, a whole lot is changing for me Feb 1st, including the cat. I'm moving to a new place, paying more rent, etc....I'm not sure if I should start now, or wait until after then.

How much is it?

The software costs $60.

I would think it would be super easy if you already have something set up in Excel. It's a pretty similar concept. When I started using it, I had something set up in a Google spreadsheet and I think I knocked it out on a weeknight.

There are a lot of great howto's and videos here:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support

I've also done a few of the free, live webinars which were pretty helpful. You can find info about them here:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/suppor...-and-education

I'd recommend checking out some of the links I posted above, particularly this methodology:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/method

I'm certainly no expert on the software or even budgeting in general, but part of their mantra is to "give every dollar a job", and then "roll with the punches".

One of the things they say is that often times, someone will do a budget and then when it doesn't go exactly as planned, they get discouraged and give up. They teach you how to adjust and the software makes it really easy to do and keep track of everything. Here's the specific info on "rolling with the punches":

http://www.youneedabudget.com/method/rule-three

I think in your case, with the cat thing, you just make your best guess and adjust if necessary. As time goes on, you'll get a better idea of what the "cat budget category" should be each month and the software will help you determine that.

I've done that with some categories. I wasn't quite sure how much to budget for, so I just made my best guess. Then, if I needed more, I adjusted and transferred money from one category to another. If I didn't need as much, I transferred money out and added it somewhere else instead. I'm still doing this today...I think it's an ongoing process. Don't worry though if it sounds hard...it's not.

When you start is up to you, but I personally believe there's no time better than the present. They make it easy to get started. You don't have to wait until payday or anything, it's all based on how much money you have right now. You can start giving those dollars "jobs" right away.

Good luck! I'll keep trying to answer any questions as best I can!

Okay, I just downloaded it and am trying it out and I'm already liking it.

Sorry to keep pimping this wonderful piece of software, but for those of you who were interested in it before, the companion iOS and Android apps are now free:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/blog/2...-are-now-free/

I've been using it for several months now and love it.

Do you have to input all of your purchases or can you link it to your account and import them all?

You can import transactions from .OFX, .QFX, .QIF, or .CSV files, which most banks support.

http://www.youneedabudget.com/suppor...t-transactions

I was going to try it out but I forgot that I downloaded it before and never got around to using it.....so now they won't give me another free trial.

I can't remember how the free trial worked. Maybe download again with a different email address?