Managing your money can be difficult enough when it’s just you. Throw in another person with his or her own expenses, accounts and spending habits, and it becomes even harder to track expenses and stay on budget.
[READ: Best Bill Splitting Apps.]
Thankfully, there are an array of budget apps for couples that you can share with your spouse or significant other to stay on the same page financially. Here are the 7 best budget apps for couples in 2022:
— Mint: Best for keeping spending in check.
— Honeydue: Best for couples who don’t want to argue about money.
— Goodbudget: Best for couples who like the envelope system.
— Personal Capital: Best for couples who want all the bells and whistles.
— Tiller: Best for couples who speak in spreadsheets.
— Monarch: Best for couples who value intuitiveness and a great user experience.
— YNAB: Best for couples who like the zero-based budget system.
Mint
Best for: keeping spending in check.
If you’re ever surprised at the diminished balance in your checking account or the higher-than-expected balance on your credit card, the Mint app might be for you. This free app, available via the App Store and Google Play, tracks and displays your income, your savings goals and your credit score. What’s more, it can sync your bank accounts and credit cards. Mint lists your expenditures, categorizing them and sending you alerts when you’re going over budget. Although the app isn’t technically a budget app for couples, Mint’s option to sync multiple accounts and cards can be a great resource for couples. Another cool feature: It lets you know when bills are due, and it lets you know when you might be overpaying for certain things, like cable and internet.
Honeydue
Best for: couples who don’t want to argue about money.
“You spent how much?” or “You bought what?” These are questions that come up between couples who share their financial resources, and they can cause friction in any relationship. The Honeydue app acts as a neutral third party that will send alerts when either you or your partner are reaching their spending limits in certain categories, hopefully removing the need for these conflict-inducing conversations. Here’s how it works: You choose which accounts to sync with the app and your spending limits on different categories of items, then Honeydue will track your spending. This free app, available on the App Store or Google Play, also allows you to see at a glance your financial situation, from savings goals to bill deadlines.
[See: 25 Summer Budgeting Tips.]
Goodbudget
Best for: couples who like the envelope system.
Ever heard of the envelope system? This budgeting system where users designate different amounts of cash to different budget categories, from groceries to discretionary expenses. With the envelope system, you’d then stash the cash in the different categorized envelopes and use those when you’re out shopping for groceries or clothes. It acts as a physical curb on your spending, unlike a credit or debit card, since you can only spend what’s in the envelope. Goodbudget, available on the Apple Store or Google Play, is the digital alternative, allowing you up to 20 digital envelopes to keep you under budget. If you want more envelopes and features, you’ll need the paid version of the app, which is $8 a month. Keep in mind that this app doesn’t link to your accounts, so you’ll need to manually enter your amounts.
Personal Capital
Best for: couples who want all the bells and whistles.
If you want to take your budgeting-app game to the next level, you might be interested in Personal Capital. This free app, available on the Apple Store and Google Play, offers a wide array of tools for everything from managing your budget to monitoring your portfolio’s balances. The dashboard view on this app is great, giving you a financial snapshot of your net worth, retirement savings, emergency fund and more. When it comes to budgeting, it allows you to sync your accounts to track your spending, and it will send you alerts when bills are coming due and even if you’re paying too much. This app has it all, offering help managing your investments, planning your retirement and tracking your net worth.
Tiller
Best for: couples who speak in spreadsheets.
Some people never met a spreadsheet they didn’t like. If Excel and Google Sheets are your jam, then the Tiller app might be for you. But to be clear, Tiller isn’t technically an app. Like these other budgeting tools, however, Tiller allows you to connect your credit cards, bank accounts and investments to a spreadsheet. After that, it offers templates that will help you create a budget in the first place, as well as track your spending. Keep in mind that though this app starts out free for the first 30 days, it then charges $79 a year or $6.58 a month for use.
[READ:12 Best Free Online Personal Finance Courses.]
Monarch
Best for: couples who value intuitiveness and a great user experience.
Couples who use the Monarch app can’t say enough about its design. This app, available on the Apple Store and Google Play, keeps track of all your accounts and investments in one place and helps couples formulate plans to achieve their savings goals. When it comes to budgeting, the Monarch allows you to establish your own budget, but it will notify you when you’re going over the limits. Their budget tool also allows you to plan for bigger expenses and test out different budget scenarios to see how they play out over the long-term. Monarch is free for the first 30 days and will charge $9.99 per month thereafter.
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
Best for: couples who like the zero-based budget system.
It’s in the name. You Need a Budget, also known as YNAB, is an app that offers its users a basic but good budgeting tool. Based on the zero-based budgeting system, this app was founded on four principles: Assign every dollar in your budget, break down big bills to create monthly goals to fund them, don’t get down about overspending and be purposeful as you spend by spending money that is at least 30 days old. This popular app, available on Apple Store and Google Play, is free for the first 34. And according to its website, YNAB helps new budgeters save $600 the first two months and more than $6,000 over their first year.
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Best Budget Apps for Couples in 2022 originally appeared on usnews.com
