No it’s not Beyoncé….It’s me, Queen Budgeter! I must confess that I am a bit nerdy when it comes to certain things, like bargain shopping and managing money. I believe in the power of Excel.  So for years I’ve used a keep-calm-the-queen-b-is-herespreadsheet to track personal and business-related spending. The biggest issue was that the spreadsheets sat at home on my laptop and I only had time to update it once a month.  I needed to see my budget regularly, track cashflow and make necessary adjustments so I can make informed decisions about my money. So I decided to look into an online app.

There are many lists out there rating the top 5, 10 or 15 personal finance apps. MINT.com is always part of the list but not necessarily, the best! To be fair, I have a Mint.com account but there are other apps with much more functionality…

Family sync: via iCloud, immediate updates across platforms

Data management: create reports/charts, export and import data

Account management: categorize income/expense, associate accounts with payee for and income/expense categories, support multiple base currencies with currency conversions, upload image of receipts

Budgeting: regular budget rollover and adjustment, classify and manage expense categories, track spend

Bill Management: account for frequency of bill payment, view bills by payee, date and expense categories.

Homebudget is one such app! The set up, interface and system is appealing and very functional. At a nominal fee of $2.99 (for the lite version) or $4.99 for the Mac/Windows download, it’s worth it!!! The only downside so far is that I have to pay and download the software separately for each gadget (phone, tablet, laptop). Not fun!

But I’m happy to have this in my life! If you find a money management app/software that’s just as good or better, please share by replying below!!!