When you live in the city, it can be hard to budget.
But when you live in the city, you have to budget. Even if you don’t want to or don’t know how to.
Living in New York City is expensive. One trip to the grocery can end up costing you half your paycheck. And then before you know it, one after work happy hour turns to three. And instead of eating those groceries, you end up having bar food and late night pizza for dinner while that kale goes rotten.
And that’s just Monday through Friday. It doesn’t even take into consideration Sunday brunch. Nor does it factor in that concert out in Brooklyn you’ve been looking forward to all month.
Moral of the story? You need to budget. You need to hold yourself accountable in some way to ensure your money isn’t flying out the door. You need to track your spending — even if you don’t know where to start.
These are the skills we wish they taught us in high school.
But now we’re adults. So it’s time to get our heads in the game — just like Troy Bolton said.
Budgeting is no joke.
Luckily, we live in a digital age. And we can do everything on our phones. And that’s perfect considering we never go anywhere without them.
The App Store is full of top budgeting apps that can help you get in control of your finances and prepare for the road ahead.
Even if you think you’re financially stable, you should still look into these helpful budgeting apps to make sure your financial ducks are all in a row.
The 10 Best Budgeting Apps To Keep You Ballin’ On A Budget
Mint
Mint is the gold standard when it comes to budgeting apps. And it should be the first budgeting tool you download.
Seriously, download it now.
Mint is one of the best, all-in-one money managers. It lets you connect all of your accounts and bills. It sends reminders when bills are due and keeps you updated with how much money you’re spending where.
It’s a fantastic budgeting app that keeps you accountable and keeps you on top of your finances.
It’s a free platform — and even better? It even gives you a free credit score check so that you can manage your credit accounts!
Any city dweller would be lost without the Mint app. This simple-to-use budgeting app will be your next go-to platform for all your money needs.
Pocketguard
Pocketguard is easy to set up and even easier to use. This intuitive platform keeps you from overspending by comparing the money linked to all your accounts to your set budget.
It’s easier and simpler to use than Mint, and offers a basic budgeting platform that will notify you of when you’re getting close to breaking your budget.
Another great feature of this app is its comparison functionalities. Essentially, it tracks your monthly bills and stays on the lookout for ways that you can cut back spending. It looks for deals that you can sign on to lower your bills and spend less. Now that’s a real friend.
Wally
Wally is a great, free-to-use app available on iOS and Android devices. And its support for a number of foreign currencies means that it’s even a great option for those traveling outside of the United States!
Wally tracks your expenses and gives you real-time insights into your current financial situation.
Wally is an extremely helpful guidance tool for people new to budgeting who want to better understand where their money goes throughout the month. It’s straightforward and easy to understand once you get the hang of it. And it really teaches you how to stay in-budget and be aware of how much money is coming in and going out.
You Need A Budget
You Need A Budget is a unique budgeting app that takes a new and innovative approach to budgeting. And it’s perfect for those perfections lists out there.
Instead of letting you set the budget, the app essentially sets your budget for you depending on how much money you make. It does this to help you reach your savings goals, track your income and ultimately save money.
Each dollar you earn gets a specific function in this app: it goes towards a specific category and the app tracks it throughout the month.
Another great feature is the money tracking and goal setting tool that help you get to where you want to go. And you can use this on your phone or laptop computer!
Acorns
Acorns is a great app for budgeting and investing. It’s a free app, though it does cost you if you do decide to invest. It’s like your own personal financial advisor. It tells you how to keep your finances in check and where to potentially put your extra cash.
This personal finance app takes the change from your purchases and adds it to an investment portfolio.
So it’s an app less dedicated to budgeting, and more dedicated to investing. But it’s still a really revolutionary tool for people looking to get their finances straight.
It can connect all your accounts and purchases with ease and gives you one easy-to-maneuver platform to see where all of your money is going.
Prism
Prism is an app that lets users pay bills all from one interface. And that interface is their phone. This free app is available on iOS, Android and Windows devices. So it’s really great for all smartphone and tablet users.
This is a pretty simple app with a straightforward purpose — paying bills. But being able to pay bills all from one place makes it easier for busy and hectic city goers to see where their money is going.
Users get notified when a bill is looming and gives them quick and easy access to payment options.
Albert
Albert cares about your entire financial wellbeing and offers recommendations for budgeting, money saving and investing after seeing your spending habits.
Albert tracks all of your accounts in one seamless platform.
You don’t even have to set up your own budget. The app will do it for you, giving you budgeting and saving tips along the way.
The app even automatically saves for you each and every month.
And for a monthly fee, users can access the Genius feature that gives even more personalized saving advice! This app really is an intuitive live-saving tool.
Robinhood
Robinhood is another budgeting/investing app that helps you make money by saving money. But it’s free!
With Robinhood, you can invest in stocks and trade cryptocurrency. It might not be the right financial app for everyone, but if you’re trying to up your financial game, this is a great app for getting started.
If you’re new to investing, the pop-up features make it simple, fun and easy to get into the game.
You don’t have to be a finance whiz to reap the rewards of investing when you have the Robinhood app.
Venmo
Anyone who is anyone has heard of Venmo. It’s not exactly built as a budgeting tool. But it’s a vital resource for everyone living in the city. And new features added every day make this an essential.
With Venmo, you can send and request money with ease. And the app doesn’t charge you a cent for purchases.
Better yet, you can even pay with Venmo using a number of apps. The platform keeps growing and is becoming a tool to actually pay brands and businesses.
Money is available instantly. And you can even make immediate transfers for a small 25 cent fee! It doesn’t get better than that.
Mvelopes
Mvelopes works kind of like cash budgeting. The app lets you put money in different envelopes or categories to give you a visual representation of where your money goes from paycheck to paycheck.
For a small fee, you can connect an unlimited number of accounts including bank and credit card accounts.
Essentially, once the envelope is empty, you can’t spend any more money. So it’s a very direct and strict budgeting tool.
But even the best of is sometimes need that.
While this tool does cost you, so many people swear by its effectiveness. Never miss a bill or rent check again.
These 10 personal finance apps will definitely help you with budgeting and saving. Most of these apps let you connect all of your financial accounts — and that includes credit cards, debit cards, investment accounts, savings and checking accounts.
These budget tools help put you in a path to saving money by implementing a budget system that you’re slowly but surely forced to abide by.
Managing money and increasing your personal capital just got a whole lot easier.
When it comes to budgeting, you have to start somewhere. And don’t worry. Everyone has been in your shoes.
It might mean that you have to skip an after work get-together. And you might have to pass on those bottomless mimosas. But in the long run, your bank account will thank you.
And with these tools, you’ll even get to make some cash too. Budgeting isn’t just about saving but investing responsibly.
These tools give you the foundation for financial responsibility. And they teach you the skills you need to stay on top of your own money, spending, and investments.
So what are you waiting for?
