The secret of happiness is very simple: you don’t have to be a millionaire to live well, it’s enough to manage your expenses correctly. Everyone knows the feeling that money flows away like water. The most obvious solution to the problem is to make spending conscious.
Now it is much easier to control your expenses: just choose the most convenient program-controller and put your income and expenses into it. Many of them have options for planning and optimizing expenses, useful hints. There are many apps to plan your budget. These tools include tips that help not only to spend money thoughtfully but even to postpone it for vacation, important purchases or pleasant little things. If you need to transfer currency, use mobile money converters. Read more on this link.
The most popular controllers
Family 11
Has been around for over 10 years and is available in 2 versions: Standart and Professional. A first version is an excellent option for family budget management. It allows you to fix your income and expenses, plan your purchases. There is an option of drawing up a plan of repayment of loans, accounting for unplanned expenditures.
You can set a goal in the program: an expensive purchase or a trip. Family 11 calculates how much you need to set aside each month to accumulate the required amount over a certain period of time. Family 11 Professional is designed for business owners – it captures all current expenses and calculates profits.
AbilityCash
One more convenient program for calculation of expenses. Its main advantages: convenient interface and intuitive use, while taking up little space on your computer. The program is free, which is also an important plus.
By means of AbilityCash, it is possible to make the plan of expenses, payments under credits. There is an option of financial planning which counts the plan of accumulation of means for a large purchase. The user independently chooses a way of accounting and currency.
Personal Finances
It is a very simple program that requires a little RAM. The trial version can be installed free of charge, and you will have to pay extra for the extended version. The interface of the program is bright and clear, which is ideal for beginners in home accounting.
At the same time, Personal Finances is quite functional: it can fix expenses, compare results for different periods. A special calendar will remind about monthly payments (housing and utilities, credit).
Money for iPad
It is an application for Apple tablets that allows you to fix expenses anytime and anywhere. It is paid, you can download the program from the App Store. For a beginner, it will seem difficult, but once you understand it, you will certainly appreciate its wide possibilities. Expenses and their dynamics can be assessed as a percentage, you can create charts, attach pictures or melodies to transactions.
Expense Manager
An application for Android devices that is available for download on Google Play. In it, you can track expenses, analyze them and compare financial results for different periods. The application also has a financial planning feature.
Daily Budget
If you want to start saving money for something more meaningful than a lunch in the canteen, this app will help you pull yourself together and calculate the number of your daily expenses. First, you need to drive your monthly income, indicate the amount of standard monthly expenses (for example, utility bills) and indicate the percentage of the total income that you want to save in the piggy bank. After a little thought, the application will give you the amount that you can safely spend during the day.
HomeMoney
A convenient and appreciated by many applications for home accounting. Allows you to record expense, income, transfer from account to account, and estimate account balances. There is an opportunity to see the entered information in the form of graphs – and immediately it becomes clear where the holes are in the budget.
You Need a Budget
All the above apps about what has already been spent. And YNAB offers not only software but also a financial management methodology. The difference is that the whole emphasis in this application is on planning your expenses and looking to the future. You determine in advance what each cent will go for, and then stick to the budget. And it really works.
Psychological barriers and ways to overcome them
Regularly faced with a shortage of money, the need to borrow from friends or to arrange loans, you unwittingly think about the need to control costs. However, faced with this problem, not everyone goes to real actions. In fact, there is only one reason: you do not want to see real amounts spent on useless things.
A few simple tips to start taking action:
- Download and install the selected program to control finances, preferably on your phone. If you install it on your computer, there will always be an excuse for inaccessibility, inconvenience and “just forgotten”.
- Display the application icon on the main screen so that you don’t have to look for it in the directory.
- Choose the application clearly, so there is no temptation to give up everything because you are tired of understanding the program.
- Immediately select the actual categories you will use, create new ones if necessary.
- Do not postpone entries for later, write down the amounts immediately.
- In order not to feel like a petty miser, allow yourself not to fix small expenses, for example, up to 100 rubles.
- Determine for yourself the amount that you are willing to spend just for fun. For this, you will need to calculate the total income, mandatory expenses. Having a benchmark, it will be easier to estimate the amount received at the end of the month.
The right app will help you put your family’s finances in order. And the analysis of the accounting results will show what expenses should be reduced, and at the expense of what funds you can make savings. Remember: taking control of your finances is the first step to improving your well-being! Over time, accounting for expenses will become a habit, and the benefits will be obvious in a couple of months.
