Budgeting Apps for Homeowners

Owning a home is a lot of work. In addition to managing the upkeep of the household itself, there are financial implications that all homeowners must pay attention to.

You may be familiar with creating a monthly budget for your income and expenses. When you purchase a home, that budget can change substantially. There are expenses you’ve never had to deal with before that become essential, pushing some other typical budget line items to the bottom.

Some people are able to stick to a monthly budget without too much trouble. Others are able to follow basic approaches to budgeting, such as the 50/30/20 rule.

If you’re new to budgeting, the good news is that there are a lot of easy resources you can turn to for help. Here are some of the best budgeting apps for homeowners.

Intuit Mint

Intuit is one of the most trusted names in financial software. They produce very popular programs such as the accounting program QuickBooks and tax preparation software TurboTax.

The company also offers a budgeting app that’s completely free called Mint. It’s extremely easy to use, which is nice for people who are new to budgeting in general.

Through the app, you can sync all financial accounts so that you can see every transaction in one place. This helps you to track your daily spending and make adjustments where needed.

You can also set up payment reminders so you never miss a bill again, track your investments and see your credit score through TransUnion. 

Intuit Mint also offers some educational resources such as a calculator for loan repayments and home affordability.

Zeta

This free app has couples in mind. It was designed for any type of couple, allowing them to track joint finances together. They also offer a bank account that’s free where you can manage your spending and pay your bills together. 

You can either sync your financial accounts or add your financial data manually so both people can track the overall finances. What’s nice, too, is that you can set up personal and joint budgets. This gives each person some individuality within a monthly budget that can tie into the overall budget for the couple.

Simplifi by Quicken

Simplifi by Quicken is slightly more advanced, with more in-depth features if you need them. They do charge $35.99 per year for these advanced services, though it comes with a free 30-day trial.

They offer a spending plan that you can personalize. Once you do, it’ll update in real-time so you can see how much of your budget remains for the month in all the different spending categories you set up.

This app can help you track all of your monthly subscriptions and bills, which could help you see which services (if any) you’re paying for but aren’t using. Like the other apps, you can sync your bank accounts, which allows you to see your whole financial picture in one place.

One of the top features of this app is called watchlists. This allows you to set a spending limit by payee or category so you can stay on track.

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

Also known as YNAB, the You Need a Budget app is a great option for people who are looking for the philosophy behind budgeting. This app will help guide you to better budgeting, rather than just forcing you to do it all yourself. 

The app costs $84 per year to use, and they offer a 34-day free trial. 

Through this app, you can import your financial data from a file, sync your bank accounts or enter every transaction manually. They offer live workshops, video courses, and written guides that will help you navigate the app and budgeting in general.

The proactive approach that YNAB takes with its users is one thing that sets it apart. It’s more hands-on, per say, with budgeters, rather than just having users track what they are spending.

Pocket Guard

If you need help curbing your spending, Pocket Guard is a good app that you can use. They offer a basic budgeting tool, which is free to use. If you want to use some of their more advanced features, such as help with overspending, then the app will cost you $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year, if paid in advance.

The app will use an algorithm that will track all of your expenses and income, then compare it to your savings goals. Through this, it will let you know how much you can spend each day so that you stick to these goals and don’t go over your budget.

You can connect all of your financial accounts, including savings and checking accounts, as well as credit cards and other loans. This will help you see a full picture of your financial data in all the ways you are spending.

Not only will it track what you’re doing, but the Pocket Guard app will show you places where you might be able to save. This could be a huge benefit to homeowners who have a hard time sticking to a budget or have a hard time identifying ways to make changes to reach certain financial goals.

Signature Insurance Can Save You Money, Too

Budgeting is a huge part of owning a home. When you become a homeowner, your typical monthly budget will look completely different than when you’re renting or living with family.

There are monthly expenses — both planned and unplanned — that you must account for that only happen when you own a home.

One of those expenses is homeowners insurance. At Signature Insurance, we’ve been saving our customers money for years, while providing them with the best insurance products on the market.

Contact us today to find out more and to get your free quote.