Are you having trouble setting up categories within your budget? Knowing where you money goes each month is one of the major components to learning about your spending habits. If you can’t measure your spending, how can you manage it? A trip to the coffee shop is no big deal until you see the final count of how much was spent at the coffee shop that month. When you track your spending through categories you can do just that.
Find an online service or smartphone app to make this process easy. Spend a few minutes linking the service to your accounts and learn how easy it is to track your money each month.
Measure and manage your finances with free budget help
Mint is a free and easy program to use. There are hundreds of categories to choose from with the option for you to rename to your personal needs. You can enter your transaction into one of the set categories or make changes as necessary. Talk about making budgeting easy! Besides auto categorizing, Mint will send personalized financial advice. The service is not trying to sell you anything or persuade you to change merchants. The advice is a suggestion on how you can keep more money in the bank. Mint prioritizes saving and will make unbiased recommendations each and every time. Whether you are a free or paying customer, the focus to save your money remains consistent.
* View all accounts at once
* Automatic categorization
* Simple budgeting
* Time sensitive alerts
* Password protected
* Free and convenient financial help
* Informative graphs
* Goal tracking
* Money saving suggestions
* Track any investments
* Smartphone friendly
* Payment reminders
* Get accurate bank account balances
Programs like Mint will help you focus on setting and meeting financial goals. If you are focused on paying off your credit cards and save for a family vacation, you will be able to view the current status for each. Watch the track line progress towards your goal. It is a great motivator to visually see progress. Spending graphs will reflect how you have changed your habits. Compare month to month or year to year. Look at your finances overall or focus on a particular goal. Smartphone apps bring instant gratification to the table or you can wait to get home to your computer. You will appreciate the ease of Mint and other helpful budgeting tools.
Ultimately, the program will only be as good as you want it to be. These budget programs have the power to make money management simple. If you don’t enter every purchase, the graphs, suggestions and updates will not be 100% accurate. You have to want to change your finances for the better. Before you make a purchase, look to see how much money is in the bank. You will prevent bank overdrafts or using money earmarked for a priority payment.
Get out of debt and focus on keeping credit card debt and payday loan use out of the equation. It’s time to measure your money. Credit card debt and payday loan fees are eating up your income. You can’t get much better than free help.
