The five best budgeting apps for renters

Making sure you have all of your personal finances in order is an essential aspect of looking for an apartment.  It’s time to mature out of envelope budgeting and start letting finance apps crunch your numbers for you. A plethora of budgeting apps are out there to help you do just that. 

Mint

By succinctly combining all of your various financial activities into one convenient location, Mint by Intuit makes it easy to monitor a comprehensive overview of your monthly bills and spending habits. Mint has budgeting tools to track just about everything, from credit card bills to a Netflix subscription to your bank accounts or investment accounts. Self-filing your taxes? It links to TurboTax. Expanding your business? It links to QuickBooks. Mint is the end-all for budgeting apps when it comes to the tracking and budgeting features and connection to Intuit’s tools. It’s a universal tool for those who are just learning how to balance finances and the experienced tracker. 

With the free version you can also create a personalized budget, and the app will automatically update your transactions without you having to worry about it. It’ll send you notifications when you exceed a budget in certain spending categories, and Mint even includes a credit score monitoring feature seamlessly integrated into the incredibly user-friendly design.

Get it for iOS and at the Google Play store.

You Need A Budget

YNAB is a fantastic budgeting app that gives its users a detailed plan on exactly how they can save money while learning new budgeting strategies. Beyond just keeping a close eye on your net worth or credit score, YNAB proactively assists you by providing budgeting tools well before you get your first credit card bill. While the app does not provide a hassle-free, set-it-and-forget-it user experience, its personalized budgeting model will help you adjust your lifestyle in a way that is conducive for both your overall happiness and your savings account’s growth.

YNAB allows for easy budget collaboration between partners and syncs with real-time updates to keep you informed. The company even offers over 100 free online workshops each week in addition to other educational resources designed to instruct you on best budgeting practices, making sure you get the best experience possible while utilizing their budgeting app to achieve your financial goals.

YNAB is available for Apple devices and Android devices.

Honeydue

For couples looking to keep track of a joint budget, Honeydue is the perfect finance app. It allows users to coordinate individual bank accounts as well as joint accounts in one location, and sends reminders when bill payments are due. The app also features a built-in chat ability to help you and your partner avoid overspending.

From investments to expenses, Honeydue facilitates easy access to great budgeting features specifically designed for couples. It is great for newlyweds and couples who are just combining finances or moving in together.

Start working together toward your combined savings goals: Download Honeydue for iOS (where it is highly reviewed) or at the Google Play store.

Simplifi

Designed by the team behind the personal finance management tool Quicken, Simplifi displays your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investment accounts in one location to facilitate easy access and make the information more digestible. It provides further breakdowns of your spending habits so you are able to track spending and make financial decisions accordingly. Budgeters who are looking for an all in one financial tracker will love seeing all of their habits, goals, and investments in one app. The app also automatically categorizes your spending so you are able to see what aspects of your life tend to dominate your budget.

In the free trial version, Simplifi helps you create a personalized spending plan and simplifies budgeting (hence the name) with helpful tips so you will be able to make smarter money management decisions. It also displays account balances and other data in visually appealing and easily understood charts and graphs, while being able to sync with a variety of other apps and networks.

Simplifi makes it easy to download, as it is available for Android and iOS.

BUDGT

BUDGT is unique in the fact that it views budgeting as a daily activity and thus allows you to break down your spending habits further than typical monthly increments. Users can allocate their budget based on the day — you likely wouldn’t spend the same amount at a bar on a Saturday night that you would just buying lunch on a Tuesday. BUDGT is great for the user who is learning their financial routines and may be new to budgeting. The daily breakdown easily shows your routines and easily shows you where your money is going. The app also provides the option for monthly goals, so you can choose the budgeting plan that works best for your financial planning.

Another useful tool that BUDGT offers is its Projections feature, which forecasts your cash flow for the rest of the month. With this, you can adjust as you go and can even carry over additional savings from one month to the next, always making sure upcoming bills and other expenses like rent are covered. The app reminds you daily to log entries in different spending categories, so you’ll never forget to enter to record something and can therefore budget with greater peace of mind.

BUDGT is ready for you to start today, you can get started on iOS now.

With myriad options for users of all net worths and experience levels available on both Apple iOS and Android, budgeting has never been easier. These five apps are just some of the hundreds available to help you create a budget today, set goals, and save for tomorrow. Rhino can help you save even more money by providing you with a security deposit alternative. Get a quote today.

KT Heins-Nagamoto

KT Heins-Nagamoto is a senior brand writer at Rhino. They advocate for security deposit alternatives and renter rights in everything they write.