Techno News: Sprouty is a bare-bones personal budgeting application

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Sprouty is a bare-bones personal budgeting application

Mint is pretty much the behemoth of personal budget management. But it's also a tad complex, and it's very American. If you happen to live outside the US, you probably won't be able to use all of Mint's options.

Sprouty is no Mint-killer; it doesn't seem to have any such aspirations, either. It's a very, very simple budgeting application that feels intentionally international: I could not find a single currency symbol.

It's as bare-bones as it gets: First, you tell it approximately how much money you make. From that information, it builds a tentative budget for you - how much you might be spending on health, housing, utilities, food, transportation, and a myriad other areas. The numbers (and areas) are merely suggestions - you're supposed to tweak them for your own situation.

Once you're all set up, you can start logging your expenses. Logging an expense couldn't be easier: You set the date, enter a description and some tags, and then the sum. Sprouty's Overview screen then shows you how you're doing on the various areas of your budget, each represented as a progress bar.

It's very basic, and doesn't aim high. If budgeting seems kind of scary, this is one application you might want to try. The only thing I'd like to see is a mobile client.

Filed under: Web services