Maintaining the Merriness: 5 Apps for Recuperating your Finances after Christmas
Ah, Christmas spending. The guilt of busting the budget to find the perfect gifts battles thejoy of watching your family and friends enjoying their spoils. In the back of your mind, the image of your dream home seems less bright, but don’t despair. At C&G, we’re proud not to let defeat get in the way of you and your property goals. Get thrifty post Chrissy with these top mobile apps for recuperating your savings today.
Made in Australia, this free app can link to your bank accounts, credit cards and loans to import relevant information and cut out the burden of data entry. Automatically detecting regular bill payments, PocketBook’s little brain will categorise and calculate to provide you with expenditure forecasts and ‘discretionary income’ estimates.
Ever rifled through an old shoe box to find proof of purchase when your washing machine breaks down two years into its three-year warranty, only to find the text is so faded it’s illegible? Expensify lets you scan in all your receipts then uses text recognition to pull purchase details into a CSV file. Having all your receipts on hand at the end of the financial year will also help maximise your tax return, so you can add the rebate to your property deposit.
How many times have you logged into your bank account only to see the dreaded ‘miscellaneous debit’? Eliminate the fear and confusion with ASIC’s TrackMySPEND. Developed for MoneySmart, the simple graphic interface allows users to see exactly where their money is going at a glance. Watch your savings grow by cutting out miscellaneous losses.
Another gem from ASIC is the award-winning app TrackMyGOALS app. The idea is to ‘cultivate good savings habits’ used by successful savers and help you implement them. The app places usability at it’s forefront, helping kids and adults alike to set and achieve their goals, whether it’s an iPod or your first investment property.
While not for budgeting per say, Any List allows users to create lists quickly (even using Siri) and share them with household members. OzHarvest found that Australians throw away $7.8 billion worth of food every year. Using a synced app to avoid the double up on groceries will reduce your expenditure and increase your savings. Taking the mindset that no saving is too big or too small, you’ll be surprised how fast that home deposit stacks up.
Know another great budgeting app? We’d love to add it to our list! Tweet us @ChisholmGamonRE