Am I really doing zero-based budgeting?
Conflicting online definitions make it difficult to know if your allocation method qualifies as true zero-based budgeting. The strict rule that every dollar "needs a job" forces you to grind through reconciling every cent spent. This intense micro-management prevents you from stepping back to view gross-level cash flows and aggregate investments usefully.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Looking up different things online about budgeting methodsDid this help you?
- 2Allocating every dollar before spending and letting money roll over to the next monthDid this help you?
- 3Using Actual Budget with SimpleFin in overview mode (self-hosted)Did this help you?
- 4Using Quicken Classic Premier for Windows on desktopDid this help you?
- 5Using Tiller with custom templates for macro or micro trackingDid this help you?
- 6Switching to Quicken SimplifiDid this help you?
- 7Manually overriding AI category classifications in MonarchDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I started using it 16 years ago but I'm at the stage where every dollar _doesn't_ "need a job" but I'm still grinding my gear reconciling every cent spent.”source ↗
“I am interested in cash flows at a more gross level. I also want investments to be aggregated in a more useful way.”source ↗
“I looked into Monarch, but don't love that it uses AI to categorize, especially since they're not very open about exactly what of my data they're sharing to the LLMs.”source ↗
“I thought this was zero based budgeting but I’m seeing different things online.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 10How to stick to a personal budget without feeling restricted
- 3How to make a nonprofit budget from scratch
- 3Why is it so hard to find a debt-focused budgeting app?
- 9Free budgeting apps that connect to banks without long-term goals
- 2Why is our IT department forced to scavenge old hardware?
- 2Why is it so hard to get budget approval for preventive maintenance?