Gone are the days of jam jars and loose receipts—now we’ve got digital apps that do all the tracking for us

We’ve all been there—trying to make our budget stretch until payday but digital budgeting tools can help us plan for those tighter weeks.

They can make budgeting more convenient by tracking our expenses, setting goals, and giving pointers on where we can improve.

Imagine having a nifty on-hand tool that sets budget limits to help stay on track, even when tempted by that Friday night takeaway. We just have to get over the hurdle of thinking it’s too complicated. 

Banking apps

Most banks offer budgeting features through their digital banking app, like:

• Savings pots: Digital jars where we can set aside money from our main account, just like our old jam jars but with a modern twist.
• Round-ups: A feature that, when turned on, rounds up our debit card spending to the nearest pound and adds the extra change to our savings.
• Spending alerts: Instant notifications that help us keep track of where our money is going. 
• Spending breakdown: Shows us our spending habits and which categories we spend the most on.
• Budget limits: Lets us set a limit on how much we can spend on certain things and set goals to keep us on track. 

Just download the official version from the app store and follow the steps to activate an account. Scroll to the bottom of this Money Saving Expert article to see what features different banks offer.

Tip: While banking apps have security systems to ward off fraudsters, we will also want to protect our account by setting a strong password with two-factor authentication (2FA). 

Budget-specific apps

If we don’t want to budget through online banking,  we can use free budgeting apps which can be directly linked to our bank accounts.

HypeJar is not your regular budgeting app: it has a prepaid card feature (digital or physical). We just load our money onto the card and allot it to different digital jars, just like setting up those old jam jars on the kitchen shelf. 

And we can link specific shops to the jars. For example, Imagine walking into Tesco, grabbing our groceries, and knowing that the money is coming straight out of our ‘Groceries Jar’—no surprises!

Snoop is your more standard budgeting app that provides daily balance updates, weekly spending reports, and monthly budget tracking. But it still has tons of great features on its free version.

One standout feature is Snoop’s ability to track our regular bills and alert us if they’re higher than usual, potentially recommending cheaper providers to save us money.

Other apps we already use might have budgeting features. Take Revolut, the popular banking service app, which offers a spending breakdown that categorises our expenses and shows where our money is going.

Tip: Before diving into the apps, it’s always a good idea to get a bird’s-eye view of our expenses. That way, we can set realistic goals that keep us on track without feeling pinched. Take a look at the Quids in! Budget Planner for a simple and quick way to sum up our expenses.

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