Everyone always preaches the importance of keeping a budget. The thing is, most people don’t even have a proper understanding of their expenses. Before even trying to get a hold of your personal finances, you should know where your money is going. Some banking apps give you an overview of general categories that break down your spending. There are also plenty of apps that link with your bank account to automatically track your expenses.
The problem with these types of apps is that they sometimes group your spending into the wrong categories, which does not give you an accurate understanding of your expenses. In order to get a better depiction of your spending habits, you should track your expenses manually.
While you could keep it simple and just enter your expenses into an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets, using a budgeting app is so much more specific and visually appealing. After trying out multiple apps, I have found that the best app for tracking your expenses is Money Manager Expense & Budget.
Photo Credit: Apple App Store
This app has an amazing user experience. Once you have manually entered all of your income and expenses, you can view them in a daily, calendar, weekly, monthly and summary view.
My favorite feature of this app is the “Stats” feature. It sorts out all of your expenses into a pie chart. This makes it easier to see where your money is actually going, which is essential if you want to start being smarter with your finances.
Photo Credit: Clarissa Garza
Once you have a better understanding of your money spending habits, you will be able to become more deliberate when it comes to spending. Tracking your expenses will give you the solid foundation necessary for becoming financially literate.
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