Are you just starting your budget for the first time? Are not sure which tool is right for the job? Well look no further. Let’s disuse some of the best budgeting applications.
For budgeting I like to use two sources, this way I can reconcile between the two and make sure I missed nothing and nothing odd is out of place. Being in corporate, I had to deal with make budgets and making sure our numbers always balanced out between different reports. I have since carried this in my personal life and have decided to use two budgeting tools.
Between whatever tools you choose (if you decide to use two) your budget should balance out on both of them. So here is my review of some of the budgeting applications I recommend for those looking to make a budget for the first time. Please note that these are not in any particular order. It is just a list of budgeting apps I have used. If you scroll down to the bottom I will give you my favorite.
Best Budgeting Applications
Custom Excel Spread Sheet:
This is a spreadsheet I have found on Reddit (will post link to original once I find it again). From here I took this spreadsheet and modified it to make it my own. I also recommend anyone reading this blog do that as well. It will become your best friend and it will quickly become one of the many tools you will use to keep track of your personal finances. Click here for the link
Pros:
Local- if any of the budgeting apps go away you will always have your spreadsheet
Secure- a lot of the budgeting apps run the risk of being hacked. Having a local spreadsheet is going to be a lot more secure then a web connected app
Customizable- Probably the most customizable item on here. You can add and take away graphs or other items all day long. If you got sick of your pie chart and wanted a bar graph instead you can do that. However, with some of the apps below you can not change some of the graphics
Cons
Local- it is not easy to access from your phone. While it can be done by upload to a service like google sheets it still does not look that great on your phone
Manual- while you can write scripts to update the spreadsheet for you, it can still be a very manual process if those scripts stop working. If you are not programming oriented and tech savvy to setup a automatic spreadsheet, updating your budget this way can be very manual
Easy to lose- Unless you store your spreadsheet in multiple places, if your computer crashes for any reason you will lose all of the work you put into your spreadsheet
Mint:
Hands down, the free Mint app from Intuit Inc.—the company behind QuickBooks and TurboTax—is an effective all-in-one resource for creating a budget, tracking your spending, and getting smart about your money. You can connect all your bank and credit card accounts, as well as all your monthly bills, so all your finances are in one convenient place.
Pros
Easy to use- This app is very user friendly and the interface is great overall
Easy to sync up- Like most of the budget apps, this syncs across multiple devices really easily
Free- You wont need a monthly subscription to use it at all
Set it and forget it- Once you finally get Mint to recognize transactions correctly you can set it and forget it. Just refresh the app every now and then to update your budget
Cons
Free- If a product is free then you are the product. So while it is free your data is being harvested
Mint Learning- It takes a while for Mint to really learn all your transactions and even then it can still miss categorize some items or even double count it
You Need A Budget:
You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a very unique budgeting app. YNAB as it is commonly refereed to; helps you get out of that paycheck to paycheck cycle most people find themselves in, pay down and manage your debt, and plan for the unexpected. It’s built around a fairly simple principle: Every dollar has a “job” in your personal budget, be it for investing, for debt repayment, or to cover living expenses.
On one of my earlier post I mentioned that YNAB ( You Need a Budget) wasn’t for me. Since then I have used it more and have grown to like it quite a lot. Personally between YNAB and Mint I think they are both some of the best budgeting applications available.
Pros
Set it and forget it- once you finally get it set up, all you have to do is run the app to update it and boom your budget is right there at your fingers tips
Great interface- One of my favorite interfaces right now. Most of the others feel laggy on your phone, YNAB feels and responds great
Syncs really well- I tested to see how well this syncs up between different devices and it does rather well. I would say it does just as well as Mint
One of the more customizable ones- lets you add a lot of categories and really set up your budget
Cons
Paid subscription- If you are looking to save some money, sadly YNAB needs a subscription to use it. While not expensive, subscriptions can add up over time
Steep Learning curve- This app took me a while to really love. As mentioned above I didn’t like it at first simple because setting it up was a pain in the you know what. However, the app grew on me after a while and now I love it but for most people the steep learning curve will turn them away from it
Simplifi:
Effortlessly manage your finances and track your spending all in one place with Simplifi by Quicken, a convenient and easy-to-use budgeting app. Tracking expenses, managing budgets, and keeping tabs on your finances can be a challenge.
Pros
Easy to setup- this one is one of the easier apps to set up and start using
Cons
Interface- It feels kind of laggy at times
Sync is not great- works with some banks and some accounts really well. With others not so much
Notable Mentions:
While I have tried many budgeting apps to try and find the best budgeting applications, I feel the following applications should get a notable mention:
Every Dollar:
EveryDollar helps you create a monthly budget so you can achieve your money goals. This app is based on the popular Dave Ramsey envelope idea where you allocate every penny to a category.
TrueBill:
Truebill is free to use and offers a wide array of tools all on one simple platform. Save money by managing your subscriptions and bills. Truebill, monthly bill organizer, will automatically detect and manage subscriptions, helping you to keep track of everything –even the ones you may have forgotten about!
Goodbudget Budget Planner:
Goodbudget (formerly EEBA, the Easy Envelope Budget Aid) is a money manager and expense tracker that’s great for home budget planning. This personal finance manager is a virtual update on your grandma’s envelope system–a proactive budget planner that helps you stay on top of your bills and finances. Built for easy, real-time tracking. And, sync across Android, iPhone, and the web to share your budget with your budgeting partners
They are very similar to YNAB or Mint with each having their own unique spin off to them. I have used them and found them to be helpful, but at the end of the day they felt like a clone of one of the one mentioned above.
Final Thoughts:
The best budgeting application really depends on you. For me, I think the best budgeting applications are: my excel spreadsheet and a tie between Mint and YNAB. In a way I kind of use all 3, it is probably over kill but I like to keep a spreadsheet of budget incase any of these services goes down and then I have Mint and YNAB setup where I don’t really need to do much work. I can just pull them up and I can glance at my budget really quickly to make sure I am not going to over spend.
The important part is that you budget and keep track of your money. You don’t want to over spend all your money and get into too much debt.
