Keeping track of expenses and managing the budget aren’t things I enjoy but if you don’t keep a close eye on your personal finances you may forget to pay your bills in time, you could run out of money before the next paycheck or you’ll never manage to put a penny aside for rainy days. Luckily, with these budget, finance and expense-tracking apps your finances just got smarter!
Unless you’re very rich you’ll need some financial planning if you want to save for a new iPhone or iPad or that holiday you’ve been dreaming of. Also, sometimes when you’re on a work trip you must keep a detailed expense sheet. From helping you save, reminding you to pay your bills in time or keeping your expense reports, these financial apps can give you a helping hand with anything that’s budget-related and more:
Mint is a free app that’s available on both iOS and Android and it claims to be ‘the best free way to manage your money’. With Mint you can track your expenses and manage your budget, see where your money is going and where you can save, how much you gain and how much you spend. You can even link your credit cards and bank accounts to Mint and set up notifications and alerts when certain limits have been reached or when bills must be paid. Nominated and awarded by the Apple and Google app store, CNN, MacWorld, CNET, PC Magazine and many more, Mint is one of the best personal finance apps out there.
If you want a budget management app that doesn’t require any personal information, bank logins or account data then BUDGT is one of the best choices. Available only on iOS, BUDGT requires you to enter your income and expenses so you can keep track of them, and it’s designed to help you save money. Since it doesn’t link to your bank account you must enter everything manually, but it’s got a simple intuitive interface so you can easily enter your data and track your expenses.
If you often pay things in cash and keep many receipts, Shoeboxed is a personal finance and expense tracking app that lets you take pictures of your receipts so you can store them in an organized manner, the deductible and reimbursable ones each in their own folder and so on. Shoeboxed is perfect if your job involves handling many receipts.
HomeBudget is an excellent app for those who also have to pay their home’s bills besides keeping track of their own expenses and account balance. HomeBudget is not free but it’s one of the most detailed budget apps I’ve seen. It lets you create several categories and sub-categories so you can file and track every bill and receipt you pay and it gives you graphs and charts so you can thoroughly analyze what you spend the most on and how much you spend vs how much you earn. It can also sync with your family members so you can work together.
