Best Apps For Budgeting

Budgeting is one of the most important skills that you can learn to improve your financial well-being. By creating and following a budget, you can track your income and expenses, plan for your goals, save more money, and avoid debt. However, budgeting can also be challenging and time-consuming, especially if you have multiple accounts, irregular income, or variable expenses. That’s why using a budgeting app can be a great way to make budgeting easier and more effective.

A budgeting app can help you connect your accounts, categorize your transactions, set spending limits, monitor your progress, and provide insights and tips to optimize your money management. But with so many budgeting apps available, how do you choose the best one for your needs? In this article, we will review some of the best apps for budgeting that you can use in 2023, based on their features, ratings, and reviews. We will also explain how to use them and what benefits they can offer.

1- Capital One Credit Card

2- Best Buy Credit Card

3- Discover Credit Card

4- Chase Credit Card

Mint: Best Overall Free Smartphone App

Mint is one of the most popular and well-known budgeting apps in the market. It has over 986,000 ratings on Google Play and 4.5 stars out of 5 ¹. Mint is free to use and syncs with many kinds of accounts, such as checking and savings, credit cards, loans, investments, and bills. Mint automatically tracks your income and expenses and assigns them to budget categories that you can customize. You can also set spending limits for each category and get alerts when you are close to or over your budget. Mint also provides other features that can help you improve your financial situation, such as:

Credit score: You can check your credit score for free and get tips on how to improve it.
Net worth: You can see your net worth by adding up all your assets and liabilities.
Goals: You can set up goals for saving, paying off debt, or investing and track your progress.
Bills: You can see all your upcoming bills in one place and get reminders to pay them on time.
Mintsights: You can get personalized recommendations and insights based on your financial data.

Mint is a great app for anyone who wants a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool to manage their money. Mint can help you create a realistic and flexible budget, monitor your cash flow, reduce your expenses, increase your savings, and achieve your financial goals.

YNAB: Best Budgeting App for Achieving Financial Goals

YNAB stands for You Need A Budget, and it is a budgeting app that follows the zero-based budgeting system. This system requires you to assign every dollar of your income to a specific purpose, such as expenses, savings, or debt payments. This way, you can ensure that you are spending within your means and allocating your money according to your priorities. YNAB has over 60,000 ratings on Google Play and 4.7 stars out of 5 ². YNAB is not free to use; it costs $14.99 per month or $99 per year after a 34-day free trial. However, many users claim that it is worth the price because it helps them save more money than they spend on the subscription. YNAB syncs with your accounts and allows you to create custom categories and goals for your budget. You can also adjust your budget as needed throughout the month to account for any changes in your income or expenses. YNAB also provides other features that can help you improve your financial situation, such as:

Reports: You can see various reports on your income, expenses, net worth, trends, and more.
Education: You can access free online classes, podcasts, videos, blogs, and books that teach you how to budget effectively.
Support: You can get help from the YNAB team or the community of users through live chat, email, forums, or social media.

YNAB is a great app for anyone who wants a hands-on and proactive approach to budgeting. YNAB can help you plan ahead for your financial decisions, rather than track them after the fact. YNAB can also help you break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, pay off debt faster, save more money, and live within your means.

Goodbudget: Best Budget App for Budgeting Using Envelopes

Goodbudget is a budgeting app that follows the envelope system. This system involves dividing your income into different envelopes that represent different categories of spending. For example, you might have envelopes for groceries, rent, utilities, entertainment, etc. Each time you spend money from an envelope, you deduct it from the balance. This way, you can see how much money you have left for each category and avoid overspending. Goodbudget has over 31,000 ratings on Google Play and 4.5 stars out of 5 ². Goodbudget has a free version and a paid version. The free version allows you to create up to 10 regular envelopes and 10 annual envelopes, sync with one device, and access one year of transaction history. The paid version, which costs $8 per month or $70 per year, allows you to create unlimited envelopes, sync with up to five devices, and access seven years of transaction history. Goodbudget does not sync with your accounts; you have to manually enter your income and expenses. However, this can also be a benefit, as it can help you be more aware and intentional about your spending. Goodbudget also provides other features that can help you improve your financial situation, such as:

Reports: You can see various reports on your spending, income, debt, and savings.
Goals: You can set up goals for saving or paying off debt and track your progress.
Community: You can get support and inspiration from other Goodbudget users through forums or social media.

How do I use Goodbudget app?

To use the Goodbudget app, you can follow these steps:

Download the Goodbudget app from Google Play or the App Store¹ and install it on your device.
Open the app and sign up for a free account using your email address and password. You can also sign in with your Google or Facebook account.
Add your income and expenses to the app. You can either manually enter your transactions or link your bank accounts to sync them automatically. You can also import transactions from a CSV file².
Create your budget categories using the envelope system. You can choose from the default envelopes or create your own custom ones. You can also set up annual envelopes for irregular expenses³.
Fill your envelopes with the amount of money you want to spend or save for each category. You can either fill them manually or use the auto-fill feature to distribute your income proportionally⁴.
Track your spending and saving by recording your transactions in the app. You can assign each transaction to an envelope and an account. You can also add notes, memos, or photos to your transactions⁵.
Review your budget progress and performance by checking your envelope balances, account balances, and reports. You can see how much money you have left for each category, how much you have spent or saved, and how you are doing compared to your goals ⁶.
Adjust your budget as needed to reflect any changes in your income or expenses. You can edit, delete, or transfer money between your envelopes and accounts. You can also create new envelopes or accounts as needed ⁷.

Goodbudget is a simple and effective app that can help you manage your money using the envelope system. Goodbudget can help you control your spending, save more money, and live within your means.

Goodbudget is a great app for anyone who wants a simple and effective way to budget using the envelope system. Goodbudget can help you control your spending, save more money, and live within your means.