How This Busy Family Stays Focused on Paying Off Debt

Keeping up with your budget can be a challenge when you’re a busy family. Just ask Jimmy C. and his wife, who live in South Carolina. With two boys and a hectic schedule, they struggled to keep up with their money. In fact, they’d gotten off track with their spending, too.

Then Jimmy found EveryDollar.

“I looked at a couple of other budget tracking apps, but I didn’t find anything like what I wanted. When it [EveryDollar] finally came out, I got it pretty quick,” Jimmy said.

And it was exactly what the couple needed to get back on track. With the app on their phones, they could keep up with their money in real time.

How EveryDollar Helped This Couple Budget

“I always know right where I’m at financially, even when I’m on the go.”

Being able to see their budget anytime, anywhere was a huge plus.

“If I’m out somewhere and my wife is somewhere else, we can both see where we are on our budget immediately,” Jimmy said.

Since a plan is only good if you track your progress, they’re serious about tracking their spending. As soon as they get to the car, they enter the purchase in EveryDollar. Every amount goes in the app, no matter how small.

“Otherwise, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot,” he commented.

Using EveryDollar has also helped them change their spending habits. They can see where every penny is going as soon as it’s spent. They can also tweak their budget on the fly to make it work better for them.

“I hadn’t noticed how much we actually needed for groceries. We needed to adjust that amount higher. It also showed us how much we’d been eating out.”

For example, Jimmy and his family went out to eat every Sunday. Great tradition, right? Except for the bill at the end of the meal. So the family started going out every other Sunday. They’ve also used EveryDollar to pay for the unexpected expenses that pop up.

“The app lets us see the whole budget and we can cut out some items when we have unexpected expenses. We don’t have to touch our emergency fund, and we really like that.” Jimmy said.

EveryDollar also lets them keep their eye on the prize: getting out of debt. Anytime they want, they can watch the debt snowball at work. It also shows when they can use extra cash to pay down their student loans—the bulk of their debt.

“Without the app, we paid just what we’d budgeted. With the app, we can literally see what we have, and if we have extra, we put it on our debt.”

With EveryDollar at their fingertips, they’re making huge strides. They’ve paid off roughly $6,000 in student loans since they started using the budget tool.

“EveryDollar helps me stay focused on my financial target,” Jimmy said.

And for a growing family on the go, that extra focus is leading to a debt-free future.

Get focused on your money goals by tracking your budget with EveryDollar. It's easy to use and takes less than 10 minutes to set up!