The Best Budgeting Apps Every Renter Should Use in 2021
There is no better time than the start of a new year to take control of your personal finances. As it turns out, many Americans agree with us; according to Fidelity’s new year financial survey, 65% of Americans made financial resolutions for 2021. Whether you’re planning a move, balancing rent with the other expenses and joys of life, or coordinating with a new roommate, being financially savvy has never been easier thanks to some awesome mobile apps. Check out some of the best budgeting apps to help organize your money and make your life as a renter easier as we kick off the new year.
Mint
Want insights into where all your money goes after paying rent? Mint is a one-stop-shop for all of your budgeting and personal finance needs. The app is free and packed with tons of features to keep you on top of your money management. If you're a beginner budgeter and want to get in control of your money, Mint is a great place to start, and is a staple on many best budgeting app lists.
Consider Mint as the hub for your finances. You will get an overview of your current financial situation by connecting your bank’s checking and savings accounts along with things like investments and loans. Plugging in these figures will give you a big picture look at your overall net worth. You will also see a breakdown of how your money is being spent, which can be a huge eyeopener if you aren’t paying the best attention. Spending too much on fast food and not enough at the grocery store, Mint will make sure that data doesn’t go unseen.
For renters who are thinking of upgrading to a fancier, pricier apartment, Mint is particularly helpful in identifying where you might be able to save a little more cash. The app also lets you keep track of bills, stay on top of your credit score, and set up financial goals (like buying a car or paying off loans) to work towards.
Truebill
Start out the new year on a clean slate by taking a look at all your paid subscriptions with Truebill. Perhaps you forgot to cancel that 30-day free trial and have found yourself paying for something you will never use. Or maybe you and your roommates needed a Hulu subscription to watch The Handmaid’s Tale, but forgot you were still paying for the service once the season ended. Truebill tracks all your paid subscriptions and bills, helping you manage what you are paying for and make informed decisions about your finances.
In addition to tracking your service bills and subscriptions, Truebill will help you save money. Their employees will actually call your service providers to negotiate your bill to a lower price. In exchange, Truebill charges 40% of your savings. If they can’t lower your bill, you pay nothing. So why not give it a try?
PocketGuard
PocketGuard, as the name implies, ensures that you “always know what’s in your pocket.” With PocketGuard, you can keep track of your expenses in their Insights report by categories. You also have the ability to create your own categories, which is helpful if you want to segment your spending by place or type. You can even create custom categories for specific vacations to see the total you’ve spent on each trip. The sky truly is the limit.
Its offerings expand beyond the pocket, as you can also track your investments and loans. This helps you easily understand your whole financial picture and gives you your net worth at the click of a button. This app will also provide recommendations for saving opportunities by tracking your bills. It helps you find better deals on your costs while lowering your spending.
PocketGuard’s features are a combination of Mint and Truebill, making it the perfect app for budgeters and savers.
Acorns
If you are like many renters, you probably enjoy many of the freedoms renting entails. You can move when you want and aren’t tied down by a mortgage. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t start investing your money! If a balance sheet reads like a foreign language to you, but you still want to start investing, Acorns is a great way to start.
The concept is simple and the user interface is user-friendly and seamless. Acorns will automatically invest your spare change. If you run to Starbucks next to your apartment every morning and spend $2.50 on a Venti coffee, Acorns will round that purchase up to $3.00 and invest that extra $0.50 for you. It may not seem like a lot, but rounding up every purchase adds up quickly. You can also set up recurring deposits to your account if you want to bolster your investments beyond a bit of change here and there. It’s a great way to dip your toes into the world of investing without having to spend a lot of time reading Investopedia’s dictionary.
Honeydue
Honeydue is the perfect app designed for a couple’s money management. The app divides up your and your significant other’s balances into three different categories: individual, joint, and all. This allows you to easily understand who’s spending what from where (what card) and when. Honeydue also has the option of adding in your bank and investment accounts. So you can understand not only the money that’s going out but also what’s coming into your accounts.
Beyond these features, Honeydue provides a bill option to learn what bills are due and when and also has a budgeting option. This breaks expenses into different categories and can be displayed by account type, date, etc.
One of the best features of Honeydue is its in-app messaging system. In the Honeydue app, you can chat with your partner about a recent transaction or an upcoming bill. Having a dedicated space to discuss solely your finances makes it easy to keep track of your money outside of all the other busyness in your life.
Splitwise
Splitting the cost of rent, utilities and other household purchases between a group of roommates can get messy. If you are renting with roommates, Splitwise is a super helpful tool to keep everyone on top of their apartment finances. You can create a group with your roommates in the app, plug in any group costs that are due, and see who owes what. The app is also integrated with Venmo and Paypal, making paying off your balances simple and hassle-free. If you and your roommates do a lot together, Splitwise is a perfect tool to keep track of your group finances.
Our Groceries
If you and your roommates share groceries, the Our Groceries app is a must. It’s a pretty simple tool to make sure that your kitchen is always stocked with the necessities. The app lets multiple users share a common grocery list, add and cross off items as they please. Use this app in addition to Splitwise to create a financially in-sync household with a regularly well-stocked fridge.