For a long time, I thought I was bad at saving money.
I had the intention, I tracked expenses occasionally, and I even used Excel templates. Still, I kept falling off the wagon. What I eventually realized was that the problem wasn’t discipline — it was friction.
The Excel phase
Like many people, I started with Excel. It gave me full control over categories, formulas, and monthly planning. On paper, it was perfect.
In reality, my Excel file lived on my personal laptop, while most of my day was spent on a work laptop. Expenses happened during work hours, but entries had to be remembered and added later. Many never made it into the sheet.
Recurring expenses were another pain point. Rent, subscriptions, EMIs — every single month I had to re-enter the same numbers. It seems small, but repeating that process month after month slowly made me stop updating the file altogether.
Switching to mobile apps — and switching back
Next, I tried mobile budgeting apps. Convenience improved instantly, but a different problem appeared.
Many apps wanted deep access to my financial life — bank sync, SMS reading, transaction history. Even if the intent was good, I wasn’t comfortable giving that level of access just to track my expenses.
So I went back to Excel… again.
Finding a middle ground
What finally worked for me was finding something that sat between Excel and fully automated apps.
I came across a simple salary planning app called SaveMySalary that didn’t fetch bank data but still gave me the flexibility I liked from Excel, along with the ability to access it from anywhere.
Two things made a big difference:
Recurring income and expenses could be added once and automatically carried forward each month
Expenses could be marked as paid or unpaid, and income as received or not received
That small distinction gave me much clearer visibility into what was still pending each month instead of just seeing totals.
Planning instead of guessing
The biggest shift happened when I started planning ahead.
I had an idea of taking an international trip and roughly knew how much it would cost. Instead of guessing whether I could afford it, I could move month by month and see when that amount would realistically be available.
That turned planning into something concrete instead of stressful.
What I learned
This whole process taught me something important:
People don’t fail at saving because they don’t care.
They fail because the tools they use demand too much effort or too much trust.
Once the friction was reduced, consistency followed naturally.
Final thoughts
I’m not saying there’s a single “best” way to budget. Excel works great for some people. Apps work well for others. What matters most is choosing something you’ll actually stick with.
For me, finding a balance between flexibility, access, and privacy made all the difference.
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