I used Ledger for a while, then some other tools. Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank.

I find value in tracking everything, tracking it by hand, and tracking it with precision (our household budget has 68 categories).

When I've tried easing up in the past (e.g., with Mint's lightweight approach) I was left with a budgetary black box where I felt like I never had enough information to make big purchasing decisions. I knew what I had in the bank account, but I didn't know if it was earmarked for anything, or whether the next surprise expense was going to wreck my plans. I felt afraid and paralyzed.

Earning more didn't make the problem go away. Like the financial equivalent of Parkinson's Law, more income just meant more spending. I couldn't out-earn unrestrained consumption. I had to monitor & manage it.

For peace of mind, I found YNAB's philosophy helpful: one-off expenses often repeat predictably on a long-enough time horizon, and can be amortized accordingly. If I itemize all predictable expenses and save a little each month, I know everything is taken care of, and what I really have left over. I never get blindsided because several big expenses hit at once.

I know not everyone has these problems. But I like to talk about my experiences because people don't all need the same things from their finances. It's okay and normal to want control and visibility. Budget apps exist because people find them useful, not because the whole userbase has failed to reach enlightenment and transcend budgeting.