If you’re moving into an apartment, one of the first things you’ll need to figure out is how to create and follow a budget. Living on your own, or with roommates, requires careful planning and budgeting so you can afford necessities like rent and groceries and extras like entertainment and travel.
Here are the four best budgeting apps every renter should use to take control of their money:
This app is designed for roommates who want to keep track of shared expenses. This easy-to-use app makes it easy for you and your roommates to split the check when you go out, pay each other back for borrowed funds, contribute to group trips, or keep track of who pays for what. Users love the receipt scanning feature, the charts and graphs, and how easy it is to see a record of who paid for what. You can schedule recurring expenses and receive reminders and alerts when money is due. The app can split by percentage or shares, calculates equal or unequal splits, and categorizes expenses.
Costs: Splitwise is free but you can sign up for Splitwise Pro for $3 a month.
Created by money guru Dave Ramsey, Every Dollar keeps track of all of your income and expenses on one platform, allows you to plan for big expenses like vacation and buying a house, and helps you see where you’re overspending. Every Dollar makes it easy to track everything you spend, upload receipts, and set monthly budgeting goals. You can set reminders for recurring expenses, create emergency funds, make notes about your budget, and easily copy and paste your budget from month to month to save time and stay consistent.
Costs: The app is free, but you can pay $12.99 for premium features.
If you and your partner are moving into an apartment together, Honeydue can help you work as a team to make sure everything is being paid on time. Both of you can download the app and see what bills are due, who has paid for what, and how much you’re spending on date nights, entertainment, and household expenses. If you have goals to save up for a house, a vacation, or retirement, the app allows you to create goals and work on them together. You can also log onto one platform and see what you’re spending money on instead of logging into multiple accounts.
Pocketguard is designed to manage your money, optimize expenses, and grow savings. Users love this budgeting app because it is easy to store and access your financial data in one place, and the ability to link your accounts ensures that they are well-protected. The innovative app helps monitor your cash spending, be more aware of your monthly subscriptions, and reminds you when bills are due. It will even alert you if there are subscriptions you may have forgotten about and helps you cancel them. The custom budget feature automatically categorizes your transactions so you can pay bills on time and walks you through setting up any strategy for your finances, such as the “50-30-20” budgeting rule.
Want to be better about saving? The smart system analyzes your spending habits to find the best ways to budget more effectively so you have more money to put toward savings.
Cost: The basic version is free, and you can access premium features for $7.99 a month
Bottom Line
It’s no surprise that the cost of living is high in LA, but for many renters, that just means getting creative when it comes to boosting their income and being smarter about reducing expenses. These handy trackers and apps can help make affording apartment life in LA more manageable.
If you’re still looking for an apartment in LA that fits your budget, check out Wilshire Margot today. Take a virtual tour to see which one of the studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments makes sense for you.