In the past my family has unexpectedly found itself financially crippled with income cut in half. The reason for why varied from situation to situation, but the tools that I used to help budget and stretch the remaining income have stayed pretty standard in my book. And the best thing about them all: They are all free!
Folios App
Another cool feature of the app is that you can add tags to each transaction so that all your transactions become search-able. This is great for when you would like to analyze how much you have been spending on lunch each week.
Here is an example of what the folio looks like once transactions are added.
Everything in the app is manual. It does not have a way to sync up with a bank account and the only way to add transactions is to enter them in yourself. In that way I have come to think of the app as a digital version of the old school check book ledgers.
Since I have a joint checking account with my husband and my bank account sees a lot of activity, I do not find this app practical for keeping a running balance on it. For that I use a different tool. However, I do use this app to keep track of balances on prepaid cards such as gift cards.
As I had mentioned above, keeping tabs on my bank account is a little trickier than what can be managed by a simple ledger. For keeping tabs on my bank account I like to use Mint.
Mint.com
Mint.com is a site that can dynamically monitor your finances. Once you create your free account you can enter in your debt, and assets, as well as link credit cards and bank account. The website fetches live data from the credit cards and bank account and automatically updates the transactions and running balances. It also generates graphs to show how your money is being spent and which categories are taking up the majority of your income.
For me. one of the most useful tools on mint.com is the ability to set a budget for each category and then to monitor the spending in that category in real time. This is great for keeping frivolous spending under control. In my budgeting books this website is a necessity.
Mint.com can be accessed both from a computer as well as from a mobile device.
Click on the links to download and try the Mint.com App from your relevant app store.
Iphone
Android
After using mint.com for a few months I found that the food category was extremely high. (FYI: the food category includes groceries as well as fast food) and I realized that I had a lot of wasteful spending in that category that I could work on. That was when I found PepperPlate.
PepperPlate
PepperPlate is a website with companion apps in all app stores. This amazing website allows you to create and manage recipes as well as import them from other recipe websites. It also has the capability to plan out a menu for your household in a calendar layout.
It even takes the recipes for the meals planned and creates a shopping list for you. Here is where the cross platform functionality really shines. The app on your phone can also access that shopping list!
Cherry on top moment (for me) is that the shopping list in the app splits everything up into shopping aisles. Here is how the shopping list looks on my app.
Brilliant!!
Now I am not a financial advisor (I am a long way from it), and even on my good days I am not the best at managing finances. These tools however, make me at least somewhat competent at managing my accounts like an adult. :) And hopefully, if they can help me, they can help you as well!
As always feedback, comments, and suggestions are always welcome.
Don't forget to follow Reviewing Whirlwind and register your email at the top of the page so you never miss a post.
Disclaimer: Any product mentioned in my blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment