5 Best Free Budgeting Tools

There are numerous budgeting tools out there, some effective and some ineffective. With mobile apps, budgeting has become so much easier. No one even has to slave over a computer screen, trying to make sense of their cents.

However, nothing is worse than forking out some money on a tool that gets you nowhere. The whole point of budgeting is to save money so it is quite ironic for some to expect you to pay for a budgeting tool. Here follows some of the best budgeting tools that won’t cost you a cent.

Wally

Wally is a mobile app which tracks your income, expenses and savings projects throughout the month. This app’s main focus lies in your saving to spending to income ratio which makes it so simple to use and understand. You don’t have to struggle with hundreds of numbers and trying to remember what each colour on your budget meant. Sure it looks very detailed and pretty but what use is a budget if you can hardly make sense of the thing? Keep it simple.

Mint

You can create budgets on this app as well as get a general overview of where your money stands at that moment. This app takes all of the effort out of budgeting and does it all for you. It tracks the balances of your accounts and in the end your net worth at the end of each month.  It is an organised and, best of all, free way to make sense of your personal finance situation.

Excel Spreadsheet

Some might call this old fashioned with all the mobile apps out there but no one can argue its efficiency. Excel is included in your standard Microsoft Office package on your computer. It allows you to create detailed spreadsheets in the format you feel most comfortable with and has a very nifty calculating feature. Change the colours of your columns to symbolise specific accounts or data.

Level Money

After you have set up your savings goals and awarded yourself a spending limit, this app shows you how much you can spend each month, week and day. It neatly divides your spending money for you and this especially works great with your entertainment and luxury allowance. This app connects to your bank accounts and estimates your income and spending habits.

BillGuard

This app is not only a great budgeting tool but also alerts you when an unauthorised charge occurs on one of your credit cards or accounts. You can spread out your finances neatly on this automated budgeting system and let it do the work for you.

Do you feel like your debt it getting a bit too much to handle? Don’t wait until your debt swallows you, contact Senator Counsellors on 012 654 0107 or send an email to fin@senatorgroup.co.za. There is always a way out.