10 easy-to-use budgeting apps that are absolutely free
PHOTO: Unsplash
PUBLISHED ONJune 26, 2020 7:00 AMByElizabeth Liewcherrie lim
We all want to improve our financial wellbeing, and for many of us, that includes planning finances for the family and household.
While we may remember our parents jotting down in small notebooks to manage their expenses, we can now move past manual calculations and even excel sheets with more than monitoring in mind.
Stay on top of your finances (and say goodbye to receipt clutter) with these nifty money apps, available for both Android and iOS devices.
They help you with your personal budget, keep track of your spending habits and more, so you don’t have to worry about busting your bills!
Check out these free apps below and kick-start healthier money habits today:
1. Zenmoney
Zenmoney covers all the essentials you need in managing your finances as a family, and allows for everybody to log in and enter data, and with convenience.
Not only can you monitor your budget in personal and joint accounts – this app recognises text messages and creates transactions for you’re entitled to clear and fuss-free budgeting – and even demonstrates self-learning by correctly assigning your income and expenses.
Plan your payments, predict your expenses and set aside cash with your overview of money across the board (cash, checking, credit cards, loans, bills, deposits) and see yourself cutting back on your costs comfortably.
2. Money Lover
Money Lover is one of the rare finds out there which manages to gel high efficiency and simplicity together, earning itself the Editors’ Choice and other awards.
Besides tracking, categorising and planning your in-and-out, users are treated to a whole range of other features that enable you to sync across multiple devices, manage your debt and loans and be notified of your bills.
It even allows you to scan receipts to auto-process and organise them, and travel mode (with the latest exchange rates) is ready for you to use once travel resumes.
3. Monny
With its user-friendly and minimalistic design, Monny is also a reliable place to start for those who are new to expense tracking.
Although its key feature is its simplicity, Monny delivers clear details on your monthly spending, and even allows you to customise and personalise categories and saving goals.
Sift out the unnecessary and take better care of your expenses with their easy-on-the-eyes reports, charts and rankings, and cultivate better financial habits with their variety of challenges.
4. Wally
This app is great for beginners, with an easy-to-navigate interface and pleasant design.
Track exactly what you spent on each day, from that morning coffee to taxi fare, and its InstaScan feature lets you save a digital copy of all your receipts.
Say goodbye to that pesky pileup in your wallet!
5. Household Account Book
Still can’t get the hang of expense trackers? Try it on Household Account Book.
While the budget book app only comes with basic documentation and comparison functions, its cute graphics will be one way to motivate you to find the fun in budgeting.
This is a great app for those who are still kids at heart, especially with its built-in comic that gets revealed the more you use the app.
6. Toshl
PHOTO: Screengrab/Apple Store
This smart app monitors your spending on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis and displays the data in an easily readable bar graph.
You can also use it to track how much you spend whilst travelling, as it supports all currencies worldwide.
7. Spendee
Budgeting is not just easy, it’s also beautiful with this app’s polished design and intuitive functions.
Its all-in-one feature tracks your daily spending habits and turns them into an easy-to-read infographic.
It’s also available on the Apple Watch!
8. YNBA
YNAB, which stands for You Need A Budget, stands as a good candidate for those who want to calculate their finances down to the cent.
Instead of choosing one or the other, this app lets you match synced transactions to the ones you entered yourself so you have the accuracy to plan from your balances.
If you’re keen, check out their budgeting method, which only operates on four rules and is said to have saved new users quite a large sum of money.
9. Goodbudget
Perfect for families and couples, this app allows you to sync across multiple devices.
This means you and your spouse can set up a common budget, and update it as you spend.
It works on a digital “envelope” system, so simply allocate a budget for categories like car insurance, handphone bills or groceries for easier tracking.
10. Seedly
You may know Seedly as the personal finance blog, but did you know they have their very own app?
True to their understanding of what’s needed to make it work, this app seems to capture it all from its accessibility to its functionality – including daily tips to help you improve and take bigger steps for your finances.
Sync and import transactions from your bank accounts to visualise and take control of your expenditures and budgets in one place.
This article was first published in The Singapore Women's Weekly.