Top 5 Apps to Help You Budget
Make Your Money Go Further
With finances, sometimes money coming and going is just the way it is. However, if you’re like many people, it may seem like your money is far more interested in leaving than sticking around. Budgeting can help you stretch your hard-earned cash, get more out of life, and maybe even stash some spare dollars away for a rainy day.
But what if money management isn’t your strong suit? Well, as they say, there’s an app for that. In fact, there are quite a few different mobile apps designed to help you keep your budget under control. For the sake of brevity (time is money, after all), here are five of our favorite money management apps.
Mint
Intuit’s Mint is one of the most popular and feature-rich personal finance applications out there—and with good reason. This exhaustive but user-friendly application allows users to sync their bank account and credit card information, and provides both a big-picture financial overview, as well as more detail-oriented personal budget management tools. It’s available for Android and iOS devices and, best of all, it’s free!
Level Money
Level Money may be a relative newcomer to the personal finance management app market, but it has garnered high praise since its introduction. Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each month, a circle on the app’s UI fills up with your estimated monthly earnings. Then, it subtracts your projected expenses, plus a user-defined savings rate. Anything left over after bills and savings is yours to spend on niceties like dinner out or concert tickets. Level Money makes it easy to make ends meet and have a little fun on the side.
PocketGuard
PocketGuard is another freeware cross-platform application that makes it easy to keep your daily spending in check. Like Level Money, it gives to a daily spending limit. Plus, it automatically sorts your purchases and bill payments and illustrates how your purchases will affect your daily spending allowance if you need to go over budget once in a while.
Home Budget
At $4.99, Home Budget is about $5 more expensive than many of the other apps on this list, but it does offer a unique twist that more than makes up for its modest cost. It has a family sharing feature which lets you synchronize your budget with those of family members or housemates to track shared expenses. In addition, it offers a wide array of user-friendly graphs and charts designed to help users gain insight into their own spending habits.
Spendee
The smart-looking user interface is a big selling point for Spendee, but there’s plenty under the hood that anyone trying to get a handle on personal finances will find extremely useful. Unlike some money management applications, this one has a built-in budget creation utility. It also lets you take pictures of your bills and receipts, which is a big plus for anyone who struggles to stay organized. It’s free to use, but for those interested in creating multiple budgets or separate savings wallets, (new car, vacation, mortgage down payment, etc.) the modestly priced premium upgrade is well worth the price of admission.
Spend Wisely, Live Well
Managing your money can be a chore, but these applications make it a breeze. If you can browse a social network, you can manage your money. Taking control of your personal finances pays big dividends in the long run. Here’s to your wealth!
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