PearBudget beautiful, simple budgeting. (This is our blog.)

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Wait. I enter receipts in by hand? Doesn’t that take forever?

People worry that entering receipts in by hand will take a ridiculous amount of time. It really doesn’t — roughly 10 minutes a week for most people. Once a week, set aside a little time (perhaps during the commercial breaks of your favorite show?) to enter your receipts and find out how much money is available […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

Can PearBudget auto-import my spending information from my bank account?

In a word: no. There are a number of other programs that do auto-import transactions. We don’t do it, for two primary reasons: Better Budgeting: The ultimate goal of PearBudget is to help align how you thinkyou spend money with how you actually spend money, in order to help you change your spending habits. It’s much easier to understand […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

What’s the difference between “monthly” and “irregular” categories?

Monthly Expenses These are for expenses that you have every single month — like electric bill or groceries. At the beginning of each new month, you get a clean slate. Overspent or underspent money doesn’t roll over from one month to the next. Irregular Expenses These are for expenses that you have at least once a year, but not […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

How do I record refunds/rebates/store credit?

You can record a refund or a rebate on an item just like you recorded the item itself — by entering a new receipt. However, instead of entering a positive amount for the receipt (like normal), use a negativeamount. So, if you return a sweater and the store gives you $30 back, then you’d record -$30.00 in […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

Where do I record the actual income that comes in?

You enter income in the same place you enter your expenses, on the Enter Your Receipts page. If you look at the drop-down box for the “category” entry, you’ll see that, at the bottom of the list of expenses are your income categories. Just pick the right income category, and the amount you enter will count […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

I have some money that I’d saved up from before I started using PearBudget. How do I record those savings, to show that that money’s available?

Entering in an existing balance is easy! But before we explain how, we’ll give some quick background on how it works. When you enter a normal receipt into PearBudget, PearBudget looks at the amount of the receipt, and the amount that you’ve set aside in that category, and it subtracts one from the other. That […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

I get paid biweekly, and haven’t found a budget program that works with that. Can PearBudget handle paychecks that come in every two weeks?

Absolutely. In truth, there’s a relatively easy way to budget when you get paid biweekly, and PearBudget works well with it: Just double the amount you get per paycheck, and consider that to be your monthly income. Then, twice a year, you’ll have a “bonus” paycheck that you can use to pay down debt or […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

I use the cash-only/“envelope budgeting” method. How does PearBudget handle that?

PearBudget is actually modeled off of the envelope method. In fact, many people who use the envelope method use PearBudget alongside it, as a record of their expenses, so they can look back over time and see how their spending habits have changed. (Don’t you wonder sometimes how much you were spending on various categories a […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

I have NO idea how much I’m spending each month.

I just want an expense tracker for now. Can PearBudget do that? Sure thing. A lot of people are in this situation: They know they should set up a budget, but they’d rather just track their expenses for a couple of months, to see what they’re spending. PearBudget can totally work with this setup. Just […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

What’s this I hear about you buying me coffee and donuts?

Several times a year, we meet up with PearBudget users (one-on-one meetings) up and down the East Coast. We meet up at a coffeehouse, buy coffee and donuts, and talk about budgeting and how PearBudget can better meet your needs. We sometimes even give presents (like personal finance books or comped months of PearBudget service). […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.