How We Track Our Spending (and Why We Use Monarch)
I used to be a diehard spreadsheet budgeter. For years I couldn’t fathom paying money for a budgeting tool. And honestly, I still love a good spreadsheet (and still track some finance related info that way). But over time, spreadsheet life started eating up too much of my time. With a little more wiggle room in our budget, I decided to test out some budgeting apps.
I tried both YNAB and Monarch. They’re both great, but Monarch won me over with its ease of use, flexibility, quick transaction categorizations, and modern interface.
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What I Love About Monarch
All accounts in one spot. We have 25+ accounts (checking, credit cards, savings, loans, retirement accounts, home and car values, etc.) and Monarch pulls almost all of them together seamlessly. It’s really easy to see our net worth. There are a couple of finicky accounts, but they are the exception, not the rule.
Transaction alerts. I get notified when there are new transactions to review, which makes it super easy to stay on top of things.
Fast daily check-ins. I do a quick check once a day (or every other day), and Monarch does most of the categorizing for me, I’m just checking it’s work. I spend less than 5 minutes on it.
Quick transaction searches. It’s so easy to find specific transactions using Monarch’s filters. No more endless scrolling or trying to find the right search term to find what I need.
Quick summary data for budget categories. I can easily see how much we’ve spent in a certain category or the average transaction amount or largest transaction amount.
Visuals. I love the Sankey diagram they make to visualize your cash flow each month. I also love the graph on the dashboard that compares your spending from the current month to the previous month.
I’ve been using Monarch for about 6 months now, and it has “learned” our spending habits really well. Most transactions get auto-categorized correctly thanks to the rules I’ve set. If you’re interested in trying out Monarch and want to snag it at a discounted rate, feel free to use my referral link to get 50% off your first year.
Tags and To-Dos
When I first set things up, I created tags for each family member. That way, I can quickly see who an expense was for. I also made a “to do” tag for anything I want to come back to later. At the end of the month, I review all my “to do” tags before closing things out.
How We Budget in Monarch
Here’s the structure we’ve landed on:
Monthly bills & utilities: Each category has its own budgeted amount. Some are fixed (like our mortgage), others vary a bit depending on usage (mainly electric).
Irregular bills: Things like annual subscriptions or quarterly utilities also get their own monthly budgeted amount based on their total cost. We either set aside money in savings each month or pull from savings when the bill is due.
Food: Instead of separating groceries and dining out, we keep them in one group with a shared budget.
Flexible spending: This covers all our variable expenses, things we don’t spend on every month or that fluctuate a lot. I used to budget these individually but got tired of shuffling money between categories. Now they’re all grouped together and it feels so much better.
Surplus savings: This isn’t part of our monthly budget, but it’s a holding place for extra funds we might want to put toward a one-off purchase. It’s nice to have it visible in Monarch so I can quickly see what’s available.
Who Handles the Money
In our house, I manage the finances. I love it, my husband is indifferent, so I take the lead. I loop him in if something major comes up, but for the most part, I just run with it. He technically has access to Monarch (and all our old spreadsheets), but I don’t think he’s ever opened the app or looked at the spreadsheets 😄.
