Envy: Envelope Budget Planner

This app doesn’t sync to your bank which has been a huge problem with other budgeting apps I’ve tried, it doesn’t ask you to list every transaction of income and expenses which makes it harder to keep up with the amount you actually have to spend, and most importantly there is a guide to using the app. There are many reviews stating how it’s confusing or not user friendly but it took me about two seconds to find the button that says “Help” in the settings section. It tells you what each button does, how to use the functions, etc. My absolute favorite thing is that the premium option is both cheap and a one time payment so this isn’t a money hungry app showing you annoying ads with their free version or having you pay a monthly subscription to keep using the app meant to help you spend less money. While the free version doesn’t have as many features (colors, amount of envelopes, etc) it states in the description of the app that it’s made that way intentionally to give the user a feel of how to use the app and see if they want to purchase all the features which I think is pretty smart. The app was made to be bought which eliminates the monthly subscription fee. It’s a great app if you’re looking for a digital version of an envelope binder which is what I wanted. I only have two critics and that’s the sorting feature and the colors of the envelopes. We should be able to sort them manually in an order that works for each specific person and a lot of the colors are kind of bland and repetitive. There is a huge variety of colors, don’t get me wrong, but some look kind of muddy or like a slightly darker/lighter version of another one so when they’re placed side by side they look like the exact same color. Other than that I absolutely love the app.

My wife and I spent months looking for a budgeting platform or application. We ended up just using Quickbooks Pro (2021). However, we don’t use it correctly because we do the envelope system through their software which isn’t designed for that. It forces us to create new “banks” and it can be very time consuming and tedious to balance the budget. I’ve tried Every Dollar as well, but it left a lot to be desired. Needless to say, this app is literally perfect for what we were looking for. The only con that I have with this app is that there is no login system. If I were able to create an account and share it with my wife, we could both view our budget from each of our cell phones. Overall, for $5 you get a lifetime access to this software, and that’s beyond generous and helpful. Most companies want you to pay a recurring fee. If you’re struggling with money and need some organization in your life, get this app. In the words of Dave Ramsey, “you are the boss of your budget when you make the budget, but after that, the budget is the boss of you.”

Hello! Just writing to say I love a lot about the app, such as the ability to add memos to the deductions and the dollar amount at the top. However, I have been noticing some things that I really wish were different. One is that there is nowhere to see what your original total was. I think it would be really helpful to see how much I would be spending per month if I spent everything in each envelope. Perhaps at the top if it was not just the amount left, but something like original amount/amount left, that would help with budgeting a lot. I was able to see the original amount before the month started, but then I realized I needed to add more envelopes, and couldn’t remember how much the total would be. Also, I wish there was a way to save each month rather than just deleting or resetting. That would help with tracking trends as well. What also has been bugging me a lot is that editing in this app is really hard. I have a really hard time with changing the amount in the envelope after I have created the envelope. Sometimes I realize I should have accounted for something else or want to divide one envelope into two, and most of the time I just end up starting over. I feel this could be made much easier.