These Apps Can Help You Budget Even If You Hate The B-Word

When it comes to money management, it’s safe to say that no one enjoys putting a cap on their spending. However, it becomes necessary as you plan for future expenses and bigger life event costs. Whether it’s a fun spending endeavor such as shopping or vacationing, or monitoring routine living expenses, finding out you overspent can turn into a nightmare quickly– especially if it snowballs into high debt.  

According to Nerdwallet, 74% of Americans have a monthly budget. Despite the high percentage though, many Americans have admitted to routinely going over their allocated monthly spending. Since it’s National Financial Literacy Month, here are a few apps that will not only help you budget your expenses, but also help you visualize where your money is going every month and where to cut back on purchases.

If you’re looking to get an effective visual of your budget, then this is a great option for you. Goodbudget uses the concept of envelope budgeting, which is a method that many use to split up their budget through different categories. For instance, if you spend money on utility bills, vacation, or school, then a set amount of money will be split up and placed into each of these designated envelopes. This app will not only allow you track budgeting in each of your selected categories, but it will also allow you to manage any current debt you want to monitor.    

One thing to note about the app is that even though a free version is offered, there are more budgeting features available in their paid version.

This budgeting app was designed specifically for couples who are looking to merge their finances. To blend your money with your partner and give insight into each other’s money, you’re able to link various cards and accounts to view. Each type of account added can be specified too. 

There’s a dedicated bill page where you can see what bills are due and are organized on the calendar. As the months progress while using the app, users have the ability to compare spending from month to month. This is great especially as it gives a visual on where to allocate money in the future. If wanted, you also have the option to split expenses directly in the app like rent. 

Nerdwallet is the perfect resource for those who are budgeting at any level. Once you’ve signed up, you’re able to link your various assets— which includes loans, investments, savings, credit cards, and more. 

What’s great about this app is it automates your expenses for you and provides weekly insights, so it requires less manual work when compared to other apps. The app uses past payments to estimate upcoming expenses. It also goes the extra step in providing your credit score and how it’s changed over time.

Similar to Nerdwallet and Goodbudget, Rocket Money gives you the opportunity to create a monthly budget using your preferred categories, and you can track all of your account transactions in one place. If any assistance is needed, the app also offers customer support through email or chat. You can also track all your subscriptions and cancel the ones that are no longer needed.  

The app does offer a premium plan, which allows you to negotiate your bills with the potential to save extra money. This would work well for utility bills such as cable, phone, or internet. 

One thing to note is that the dashboard of Rocket Money is more simplified, so Nerdwallet or Goodbudget may be better options for more detailed dashboards.

Spending Tracker is a great tool for listing your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly expenses with reports and interactive charts. Best of all, it displays your spending history, which is great for analyzing on where to either cut back or allocate more resources. 

One thing to consider about the app is that all expenses will need to be entered manually. Depending on the amount of expenses you have, this could end up becoming time consuming down the line.