iXpenseIt – as seen on TV

I originally downloaded the lite version of this app, for free, to test the waters.  I liked it enough to pay the $4.99 for the full version.  The lite version has ads and limits you to 100 records in total.  Fear not though if you get the free one all set up the way you want it, you can simply export the data to the full version.  It’s a simple one click shot and it’s done.  Trust me – I did it.

Main Screen

There can be a lot of aspects to budgeting.  I feel that this app covers them in a well-organized, logical method.  I didn’t feel overwhelmed with options at any particular time.  In fact, I was often surprised by the number of options.  One nice touch is the list of icons you can assign to an expense category and sub-category.  It’s a nice touch and a good visual explanation of the expense.

The main screen takes you to today’s listing of expenses and some budget information such as: Daily Average, Budget, Expense total and Balance.  Keep in mind that not only can you have multiple budgets but they don’t have to all be for the same duration.  For example, you can have a monthly budget for groceries and a yearly budget for medical expenses.

Budget Settings

I will take a second to point out a shortcoming of the app: there is currently no way to add a deposit into a budget.  Well okay, that’s not completely true.  Let me explain.  There is no “Deposit Money into Budget” button, but you can be tricky.  You can enter an expense of a negative amount and it will have the same affect of adding money to the budget.  Do keep in mind that a budget by design will start over at the selected time, unless you selected a one-time budget.  Also pay attention to the roll-over feature if you plan on carrying over the balance each period.

You also have the ability to set a start date if you so choose.  Defaults can also be set from this screen.

Pie Chart

What would a budget be without charts and graphs?  Nothing!  All right, maybe that’s a little dramatic but it’s nice to see.  Everybody likes a little pie chart or graphic showing them what they could otherwise read.  Well you get your choice of a pie chart or a bar graph.  I didn’t think you needed to see both so I’m only showing you the pie chart because I’m partial to it.

Settings Screen

Your setting page has several things worth mentioning.  You can set the level of budget (simple, detail or custom).  I use custom and I’m not sure I fully understand the other two beyond the fact that simple didn’t show me enough and detailed showed too much.  You do have the ability to turn off the budget. I can only assume that this is for the person who simply wants to track what they pay and doesn’t care about a cap to the spending.  You can set up a passcode for keeping your finances a little more secret.  There are a couple other settings that I’ll skip for the sake of time but I do want to point out that you have the ability here to set the defaults for the expenses.  This can save you some time from selecting the same type, category, payment type, etc. over and over.

I know I talked about this app for a bit longer than I normally do and that’s because there is a lot to it.  I would highly recommend trying out the free edition to see if you have a place for it in your life.

Cost: $4.99

What I thought in a nutshell!
Use-ability
How user friendly is the app and its interface?
Practicality
How likely is it that someone is going to use it?
Neat Factor
Will this app wow you?

Overall
How did it fair overall?