If you’ve ever budgeted with a spreadsheet, you know how time-consuming and complicated it can be. You have to create everything from scratch, use complex formulas, and keep a stack of receipts around so you can update the budget whenever you get a moment to yourself.

Like that’s going to happen any time soon!

Thankfully, you can kiss those spreadsheets goodbye. EveryDollar does the heavy lifting for you, leaving you plenty of time to enjoy the money you’re saving.

But don’t take our word for it. Check out what these budgeters said when we asked them why they prefer EveryDollar over those complicated spreadsheets.

When Katie B. from Zanesville, Ohio, left the corporate world for a new career as a high school business teacher, she knew the 50% drop in her pay would require some financial adjustments.

Having followed in her dad’s footsteps to a career in business, Katie found the work took too much time away from her family. In an effort to reclaim her schedule while still pursuing her passion for business, she decided to teach instead.

Ah, saving money. Whether you call it a nest egg, a stash, or a rainy day fund, most of us feel comforted by having an extra cushion between us and life’s next emergency. But following through with building up that stockpile of cash can be easier said than done.

If your emergency fund is currently at zero, begin adding to it little by little. You might be surprised at how soon you reach your savings goal. You can do it!

Our EveryDollar budgeters, armed with the power of their budgets in hand, are creating their own savings goals. And it’s paying off! We asked them to share their words of wisdom when it comes to saving money.

What if you could feed a family of five for $100 a week?

That’s exactly what Chris and Lydia are doing, thanks to their determination to live on a single income in northern California! And while sunny California is a beautiful place to be, the cost of living is high and the taxes are even higher. “You almost have to have two working spouses contributing to the household income,” Chris said.

But when he and Lydia started talking about the possibility of having children, they decided they wanted to find a way to make it work. “It’s one of the reasons we sold our home,” he said. “We couldn’t afford our payment because it was about half of our combined monthly income at the time.”

Now, thanks to a lot of hard work, they’re happily living on just one income and have three beautiful children, ages 4, 3, and 5 months. “It was right about the time we started using EveryDollar that we were able to really hone in on our expenses and income and determine whether it would be financially possible for her to stay home,” Chris said.

Before they started using EveryDollar, Rachel and Shawn G. didn’t really budget. They sort of planned what they were going to spend for the month, but they didn’t stick to it. And they definitely didn’t pay more than the minimum on their $26,000 worth of car debt.

All that changed when this Charleston, West Virginia, couple discovered the free budget app. For the first time, they began planning and tracking their spending together. And they soon realized how much money they were wasting each month.

They found enough “extra” cash to bump up their debt payment from $670 to $1,400 a month! That’s more than double their original payment! And after 14 months of hard work and smart spending, they are now completely debt-free (and heading to Disney World with cash in their pockets!).