Category
Personal Finance
Budgeting, spending, saving, bills, subscriptions and debt: how to see where your money goes and keep more of it.
Monthly budgetingExpense trackingOverspendingSavingsBills and subscriptionsDebt payoffHousehold and family budgets
Solutions
- Always broke before payday? How to make your money last the whole monthWhy money runs out before payday and a 7-step plan to fix it: map bills to paydays, set money aside first, use a daily spending limit and build a buffer.
- Spending more than you earn? How to find out why and fix itWhy your spending keeps running ahead of your income, how to find the exact gap in one evening, and a step-by-step plan to close it for good.
Guides and answers
- The complete guide to budgeting: everything in one placeEverything you need to budget well — methods, templates, tracking, saving, debt and the tools that make it stick — in one complete guide.
- How to make a budget that actually works (step by step)A simple, five-step way to create a personal budget — for beginners, on any income — and keep it working month after month.
- How to track your expenses (daily and monthly) without it becoming a chorePractical ways to track daily and monthly expenses — on paper, in a spreadsheet or in an app — and how to make the habit stick.
- Free monthly budget template (printable and CSV)A free, simple monthly budget template with income, bills, savings and spending categories — use it on paper or import it into a budget app.
- What is zero-based budgeting, and how do you do it?Zero-based budgeting explained simply: give every unit of income a job, with an example and the pros and cons.
- The 50/30/20 budget rule explained (with examples)How the 50/30/20 rule splits your income into needs, wants and savings, with worked examples and when to adjust it.
- How envelope budgeting works (and how to do it without cash)Envelope budgeting explained: give each category a fixed amount, stop when it is empty, and carry leftovers forward — with or without cash.
- How to create a family budget (and keep everyone on board)A practical guide to building a household or family budget: shared bills, kids' costs, irregular expenses and tips that work for couples.
- Budget apps that don't connect to your bank: why, and how to chooseWhy many people prefer a budget app without bank linking, what you give up, and what to look for in a private budget tracker.
- What to look for in a free budget app with no adsA checklist for choosing a genuinely free budgeting app on iPhone: what should be free, what is fair to pay for, and red flags.
- How to budget when you're paid every two weeksHow to build a budget around a biweekly or twice-monthly paycheck, handle the two extra paychecks a year, and time your bills.
- How to save money each month: practical ways that lastPractical, realistic ways to save money every month — from paying yourself first to cancelling forgotten subscriptions.
- How to find and track all your subscriptionsHow to find every subscription you pay for, on iPhone, cards and PayPal, cancel the ones you don't use, and keep track of renewals before they charge.
- How much can I spend today? Working out a daily spending limitHow to calculate a daily spending limit from your income, bills and savings — the 'safe to spend' number that makes budgeting simple.
- How to keep track of money you lent (or borrowed) from friendsA simple way to record money lent to or borrowed from friends and family, so nobody forgets and nothing gets awkward.
- How to budget for a trip (and track spending in foreign currency)How to plan a realistic travel budget, track spending abroad in multiple currencies, and avoid coming home to a surprise bill.
- Debt snowball vs. debt avalanche: which pays off debt faster?The difference between the debt snowball and debt avalanche methods, which saves more interest, and how to choose the one you will stick to.
- How to get out of debt: a realistic step-by-step planA step-by-step plan to get out of debt: list everything, stop adding to it, choose a payoff method, and find extra money to speed it up.
- How to pay off credit card debt fasterHow to pay off credit cards faster: why minimum payments take years, how to plan extra payments, and when a balance transfer helps.
- The complete guide to paying off debtEverything about paying off debt in one place: making a plan, snowball vs. avalanche, credit cards, balance transfers and staying debt-free.
Free tools
- Daily spending calculatorShows how much money is genuinely free to spend each day until your next payday, after the bills still to come and the savings you want to keep.
- 50/30/20 budget calculatorSplits your monthly take-home pay into the three parts of the 50/30/20 rule: needs, wants, and savings plus extra debt payments.
- Savings goal calculatorTells you how much to put aside each month to reach a savings target in a set number of months, counting what you have already saved and any interest.
- Loan payment calculatorCalculates the fixed monthly payment on a loan, how much you will repay in total and how much of that is interest.
- Debt payoff calculator: snowball vs avalancheCompares the two most popular ways to pay off several debts, snowball (smallest balance first) and avalanche (highest interest rate first), using your real balances, rates and payments.
- Compound interest calculatorShows how a starting amount plus a regular monthly deposit grows over the years when interest is added monthly and itself earns interest.
Comparisons
- Budget spreadsheet vs budgeting app: which should you use?A fair comparison of tracking your budget in a spreadsheet or in a budgeting app: cost, effort, flexibility, privacy and which suits whom.
Templates
- Monthly budget templateA one-page monthly budget laid out by needs, wants and savings, with a planned and an actual column so you can see where the month went off track.
- Bill calendar templateA list of every regular bill with its amount, due day and how it is paid, so you can see which bills land before each payday and tick them off as they go.
- Debt list worksheetOne table with every debt you owe, which is the first step of any payoff plan and the exact information the debt payoff calculator needs.
Apps that can help
Each guide above works without any app. These are tools we make for the same jobs, and their pages list exactly what they do and cost.
