Creating a budget should be one of your very first steps on your debt free journey. Creating a plan for your money helps you see where your money is going and holds you accountable.
Without a plan, it’s easy to move through the day making decisions that don’t get us closer to our goals. A budget is a goal accomplishing machine.
Is your goal to get out of debt? Calculate how much debt you currently have. Decide how quickly you want to be out of debt. How much time does that give you? Now, create a budget, and decide how much extra money you have each month to put towards your debt. Bam! Before you know it, you’ll be debt free and loving your budget.
When it comes to creating a budget, it doesn’t have to be hard or complicated! There’s dozens of online (free!) easy to use tools that make creating and managing a budget super easy! Here are some of the best online budgeting tools we could find…
Mint
Mint is well known in the online budgeting world. They’ve been around for years and have a huge following and platform. Mint allows you to create a budget and directly connects with your bank accounts and many other life accounts to better manage your finances.
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
Mvelopes
Mvelopes is created with the specific goal of helping you get out of debt. It takes traditional envelope budgeting and lets you do it electronically on the go! According to Student Loan Hero, “the premise is that you create an envelope for each of your expenses and put only the amount of cash you need in the envelope for the month. When the money is gone, you can’t spend any more money.” It’s a great budgeting method to keep you from overspending!
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
Budget Pulse
According to Good Financial Cents, one of the cool aspects of this tool is that “you can create financial goals to share with your friends and family.” There’s nothing quite like accountability when you’re working towards being debt free. You can also create financial goals that others can contribute to.
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
You Need a Budget
You Need a Budget’s unique selling point is their Four Rules to Total Financial Success 1. Give every dollar a job; 2. Embrace your true expenses; 3. Roll with the punches; and 4. Age your money. It’s easy and fast to set up and can be directly connected with your bank accounts.
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
Buxfer
Buxfer lets you see where your money is going, reduce unwanted spending, and save for future goals. One unique aspect that differentiates them from other online budgeting platforms is that they also allow shared expenses, which allows you to split groceries, rent, and other bills with roommates and friends, and send payments online to settle up with friends. You can also connect with your bank accounts without having to store your online banking password on their server, and you can manually add transactions on the go.
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
MoneyStrands
MoneyStrands let’s you create a budget, set savings goals, and analyze your finances. One of their most unique features, though, is their community, which lets you compare your finances to people just like you.
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
Budget Simple
Budget Simple will analyze your finances, help you create a budget planner, and suggest where you can cut expenses or grow savings. It also has a feature to help you figure out what tradeoffs you have to make in order to accomplish specific financial goals (i.e., get out of debt).
Want to know more? Review 1 | Review 2
If you’ve created a budget or tried to manage your finances, but are still struggling with payday loan debt, we can help. We’ve worked with hundreds of others to help them escape the payday loan debt trap. Contact us today!
