What PearBudget Does (and Doesn't Do):
PearBudget runs entirely online, independent of your operating system, and you can use PearBudget if you can use one of these browsers: Firefox, Opera, Safari, or Internet Explorer.
PearBudget is very simple web-based budgeting software that will not track and reconcile individual accounts, but will track your budget and help with saving for expenses that do not come up on a monthly basis. I recommend PearBudget for its ease-of-use, accuracy and simplicity.
How to Envelope Budget with PearBudget:
PearBudget Pros:
- Security can not be compromised since account numbers are never entered.
- Ability to export data to a CSV file allows you to store data on your own hard drive and to analyze your budget with spreadsheet software like Excel.
- Free 30 day trial, no need to enter credit card for trial.
- Budgets can be printed.
PearBudget Cons:
- All transactions must be entered manually, which is a problem for those who prefer to download transactions.
Easy Budget Set Up in 5 Steps:
- To get started with PearBudget, select spending categories for your budget or add your own categories. Categories can be added, edited or deleted later.
- Tell PearBudget which categories are regular, monthly expenses.
- Assign remaining categories to irregular expenses used for envelope budgeting.
- Enter budget amounts. PearBudget does the math to tell you how much you need to save each month to be able to pay irregular expenses without coming up short.
- Finally, save the account to start your 30 day trial.
Entering Receipts:
A simple form is used for entering receipts, with a date selection tool and a drop down category selection box. The PearBudget web application uses tags for payees, notes or other text and does not have a traditional payee field.
Budget Reporting:
First Look at PearBudget:
Help for PearBudget is available through FAQ and Contact Us links at the bottom of the page. You will probably find the answer you are looking for under the FAQ link, so try that first and resort to Contact Us if you do not find an answer. I found PearBudget support to be extremely responsive with explanations given in terms anyone could understand.
Nice touches in PearBudget:
- Click on a category the Review Spending budget reporting screen to see a list of receipts (transactions) for the month for that category.
- Edit or delete receipts on the fly from the pop-up list of monthly receipts for a category, although you may have to refresh your browser as I did to show the adjustment.
- If you delete a receipt by accident, and you realize you have done so, you can use the Undo Delete function located at the top of screen.
PearBudget is meant to be very streamlined and very simple, with an automated envelope budgeting feature that rolls unused budgeted income forward in spending categories. It is easy to see where you have overspent as well.
Transfers between categories require two steps. First, the transfer amount is entered as a positive number in one category and then an offsetting negative amount is entered in the category receiving the transfer. If this sounds confusing, think of the negative amount as the amount credited to your credit card when you return merchandise to a store. Having a screen with the two categories involved in a transfer would be easier.
PearBudget costs $3 per month to use and you can cancel any time. Since PearBudget supports CSV data exports, your data is not held hostage. The 30-day free trial does not require a credit card number, so you will not be charged unless you elect to sign up to use PearBudget.
