Making budgets easy – a Budgeting App Can Make All the Difference.

Take the pressure out of budgeting, understanding that it takes planning, consistency, and a great deal of foresight. Budgets often get made and then left by the wayside.

Budget Bee has some great advice to help you stick to your budget, making it much more manageable.

To stay on track with your budget, you already have a handy tool that can help you simplify the process – your phone. You carry it around every day and may spend hours looking at it. But your phone can also open a whole new world of budgeting possibilities. Pick the right app for your needs, and you can save yourself money in no time at all.

The benefits of using a budgeting app

The great thing about managing your budget through your phone is having access to it 24/7; anywhere you need it. You’ll find the effort of maintaining a budget is pretty minimal when you can do it while waiting for the bus.

If you’re inexperienced with budgeting, many apps will walk you through the basics of organising your money. Some will even sync up with your bank accounts and automatically track your transactions, so you know exactly what you’re spending and where.

Apps may be a great way to manage your budget. But how do you know which one is right for you with so many out there? Should you pay for a subscription or use a free one? Do you need a high-powered, comprehensive personal finance tool or a lightweight, manageable budget?

Some tips on finding the right app for you.

Not all apps are made equal, and it can be hard finding one that suits.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the options available.

Pocketbook
Pocketbook is a free, Australian-based personal finance app built to connect to your Australian bank accounts. It focuses on tracking your spending and uses your transaction data to categorise your purchases.

It’s not overly complicated, but it’s effective at what it aims to do – reduce your spending.

MoneyBrilliant
MoneyBrilliant is another great Aussie budgeting app that, like many others, uses your account transactions from your bank., MoneyBrillliant is comprehensive, with more features and tools to get your budget under control.

The app does lock its more sophisticated functions behind a paid subscription, but for a beginner budgeter, the free version is more than enough. You can always start with the free version and upgrade later if you think it’ll be worth it.

Goodbudget
If you’re looking for a straightforward budget option and don’t want an app connecting to your bank accounts, then Goodbudget is your choice. It uses the envelope system; by putting every dollar into a ‘bucket’, you can track where your money is going.

It has both free and subscription options, but the free version should be more than enough for most people. The paid version gives you access to more ‘envelopes’, meaning you can further categorise your spending habits. It also maintains longer records for you.

Is it worth it to pay for a subscription?
The subscription on a budgeting app can quickly add up; you’re looking at somewhere between $30 and $100 per year. So is it worth making the investment?

If you want to make the most of a paid version’s advanced tools, then yes. And the good news is that you’ll usually make the difference back on savings.

Picking the right app
If you’re having trouble making a decision on what is right for you, that’s entirely understandable with the many options you have at your fingertips.

We recommend taking advantage of a free trial or downloading an app and trying it for a month. You’ll soon find out if the budgeting style works for you, and it’s not difficult to delete one app and try another.

While we’re talking about apps, here’s another tool to check your carbon emissions…
Along with bringing you the best budgeting tips, Budget Bee also has some great insights into environmental sustainability. We’d love to point you towards a service that can show you your carbon footprint, comparing it within your country and the rest of the world.

All you need to do is complete the calculator on the United Nations Climate Neutral page.

So, that’s the current financial buzz from Budget Bee!
If you’re making good use of one of these apps or any other that we haven’t touched on, we’d love to hear from you on the Budget Bee Facebook page