Money Saving Apps To Help You Save Those Pennies

When it comes to saving money, it’s safe to say that we’re not always naturals. Managing a budget often comes down to building up a habit and, as we all know, this can take time. In the meantime, there are a number of incredible apps out there that can make the whole process that much smoother. While short term loans are available in financial emergencies, apps that offer everything from budgeting assistance, to automatic savings bots can ensure you have the spare cash on hand when you need it. Here are our picks for the best money saving apps you should use.

Plum

The Plum is essentially your money-savvy friend, offering all of the smart advice and reminders as and when you need them. Plum essentially tracks all of your transactions, offering data on where you’re spending, where you’re spending it and will even analyse it to help you set goals for saving. You can even set and change your savings ‘moods’ to ensure that the app continues to work towards the goal you have in mind, whether that’s a holiday, a deposit, a new appliance or just a treat.

Monzo

As of April 2017, Monzo has been a fully-operational, mobile-only bank. Of course, a bank in and of itself can’t make you save money, but Monzo has been built around the idea of saving your pennies. Monzo will inform you of any outgoing money with a simple notification and logs any of your spending within several different categories. From here, you can tell where most of your money is going to, and where your spending may need to be curbed. You can cut down on the areas that you can afford to cut down on. Monzo also offers you the chance to set budgets and will even warn you when you’re nearing the boundaries.

Squirrel

While spending out on an app that helps you save money might seem a little counterproductive, it’s an investment worth making. You will get the first three months for free too, so you can work out for yourself whether you like the app or not. When you put your money into the account on Squirrel, the app will save some of your money in a similar way to a piggy bank. It will essentially play babysitter for your money, releasing some of your money for bills as needed and you can even set aside a certain amount of ‘spending money’. This spending money can then be given to you at once, or in weekly installments.

Chip

This chatbot will track your in- and outgoing payments, helping you to analyse what you’re spending and help you better determine what can be saved and where. The chat style makes for a friendly, less stiff approach to budgeting, even offering gifs and emojis when things go well. You can put money into the Chip savings account too, where it will earn around 1% in interest annually but it’s important to note that you can only put £100 a day into that account.

Money Dashboard

Another free spend-tracking app, Money Dashboard offers you valuable insights into where your money is going. This kind of information can help you better manage your money properly across not just one account, but all of your accounts, including credit cards. Spending will be categorised to help you better determine how to go about cutting down on the areas you’re spending is categorised.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the savings apps available online, these five offer valuable insights into spending, with some offering savings advice and even saving automatically for you. Which will you try?