You need to start a personal budget, but you’re not sure where to start. If you’re at a loss, the first thing that you should do is pull out your smartphone or turn on your computer and then download a budgeting app.
Which budgeting app should you download? That all depends on what you want your budget to accomplish.
When You Need to Manage Your Spending
You’re worried that your spending habits are going to get you into financial trouble any day now. If you don’t get your spending under better control, you could end up draining your checking account, going into overdraft or getting hit with an emergency expense that you can’t pay off.
The budgeting app You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a great option when you’re hoping to find a straightforward strategy to manage your everyday spending. The app follows a zero-based budgeting principle, where every single dollar is accounted for. The app comes with informative blogs, guides and even live Q&A sessions to help users build the best budgets possible.
YNAB can do more than help with your spending. It can help you reach basic savings goals, too. You can use it to put together a reliable emergency fund so that you can handle urgent expenses out of the blue.
Without an emergency fund, you might need to consider alternative payment methods like credit cards or online loans. Look up how do online loans work and how do you qualify for them before you make any decisions. You’ll want to be properly informed before you fill out a loan application.
When You Need to Share Finances
You’re in a committed relationship where you’re living with your partner. You need to find a way to pool your incomes and handle your joint expenses like rent payments, utility bills and groceries without causing any conflicts.
In this case, you don’t want to have a personal budget. You’ll want to have a shared household budget. A budgeting app that can help you do this is Honeydue. Honeydue is a budgeting app that’s specifically designed for couples that are sharing their finances.
When You Need to Boost Your Credit Score
When you last looked at your credit report, you realized that your consumer credit score was not as high as you’d like it to be. A high consumer credit score comes with advantages, like lower interest rates and higher borrowing limits with new loans. So, you want to raise your credit score as soon as possible.
A budgeting app like Mint could help you accomplish this goal. Mint offers users customizable alerts for upcoming bill payments. One of the most effective ways to boost your credit score is to pay your bills in full and on time. These alerts could push you to stick to your payment schedule every single month.
Mint also has free credit score tracking as a feature. So, you can check on your score whenever you’d like. Over time, you could watch it climb up the ranks and get to your target number.
These are just some of the budgeting apps that could appeal to you. If these aren’t the right fit for your financial needs, keep searching! You’re bound to find the right one!
