Girls just wanna have funds, right? It's never a bad time to get your money right, and the first step is getting our budget under control.
Whether you're in a place where you want to switch up how you handle your coins or you have never really thought about money at all, a budgeting app is definitely a must for your phone's home screen. And the best part is, each of these apps offers a free version. These apps have a unique way of showing you how to track expenses, look at your spending habits, and let you know how much you can afford to save.
Get ready to live your best life while keeping your money in check.
11 Best Budgeting Apps For Saving
1.Mint
Mint
Mint has been running the budgeting game for years now. It has already served as the go-to for many of us who know we want to get our money right but aren't quite sure how to start. It lets you sync your bank accounts (which is perfectly safe on this app, of course) and your bills to not only remind you when they're due but also help you develop a system that will make budgeting a breeze. And the clean interface makes it really user-friendly.
2.You Need A Budget (YNAB)
The name really says it all. We all need a budget, but this app does even more than helping you set limits and boundaries for your coins. From letting you know every dollar needs a job, to urging its users to "embrace" their "expenses" and even "roll with the punches" when the unexpected happens, YNAB is an app that understands the realities of saving, spending, and all things budgeting. A bonus is that the app can sync with your computer and phone, so you can have access to it at all times.
3.Albert
iTunes
Albert was one of the first to take budgeting apps to a new level. It goes beyond the traditional way budgeting has been done in the past as it features a Siri-like budgeting friend, named Albert, who can chat with you. He'll tell you how you're doing with your saving goals, let you know if you can afford to eat out for the week, and even give you a friendly side-eye if you start spending more than normal. It's seriously the budgeting friend we could all use.
4.Every Dollar
iTunes
Every Dollar is another budgeting app that has been making major moves in the money industry. This one is a win for those who not only want to budget but also want to develop a plan to get out of debt sooner rather than later. It encourages users to develop a monthly budget, evaluate their spending (and literally track every dollar) while giving them tips on how they can start reducing their debt one dollar at a time.
5.Digit
This is one of the best ways to save money without even missing it. The app, which gives you $5 for each friend you refer, will automatically transfer amounts of money that you don't need into a savings account. This amount is typically between $2 and $17. But no need to freak out because it certainly won't ever transfer more than you can afford. It spends way too much time evaluating your income, bills, and spending habits to make you over-save. The key is that you really won't realize it's gone until you look in the Digit app to see how much you've saved. And you can always request it to be transferred back if you need it.
6.Pocket Guard
iTunes
This just sounds like it has your pockets' best interest at heart. Like many other budgeting apps, it first instructs you to link your credit cards and bank accounts so you can have an overview of your financial structure. It then categorizes your bills and expenses for you so you can see a comparison of your income and your expenses. With the money left over, or as Pocket Guard calls it, "in my pocket," you can spend or save depending on your goals.
7.Goodbudget
iTunes
Goodbudget is a great app for couples and families who want to start budgeting and saving together. While it does offer solo budgeting options, one of its main features is providing budgets for entire households. And for those who want to go back to the traditional envelope system, this app will definitely help you go in that direction, so you're never surprised by a checking account deduction you either forgot about or didn't see coming at all. It also helps couples and families develop a budget so they can spend their dollars on what truly matters to them.
8.Prism
iTunes
Known as "magic for your bills," Prism will have you feeling yourself when it comes to taking care of your expenses. The app gives you a major bird's eye view of your bills to help you stay ahead of them. After all, a key to budgeting is calculating and figuring out bills and what we have to pay each month. So apps like Prism and others on this list ease users' minds by letting them know they don't have to figure it all out on their own.
9.Wally
iTunes
This is an amazing app if you want to track your expenses and update your budget on a daily. While that might be too much for some to handle, for others it's a must, and that's where Wally comes in. From putting your regular bills into categories like home, transportation, entertainment, and clothes, to allowing you to scan receipts so it can update your budget ASAP, Wally is one of the most efficient ways to stay on track with what's really going on with your moola.
10. Personal Capital
iTunes
If you already have your budget intact and want to start investing, Personal Capital is an efficient start. While there's a paid version, the free version has its perks too. You can take advantage of a Net Worth calculator and a Cash Flow reviewer and even track your portfolio, key holdings, and all of the ups and downs that come with investing no matter how long you've been in the game. If you splurge for the paid version, you can get a professional investment management feature and have a portfolio created just for you.
11. BONUS: Acorns
Acorns is another investing app that automatically saves your spare change from purchases you make with a linked credit or debit card using a system called "round-ups". So, if you get your Starbucks fix for $2.75, Acorns will round up to $3.00 and automatically invest the $.25. There's also the option to turn off auto transfers if you ever have times when you need all your coins.
What are some apps you use to save? Let us know!
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How Disagreements About Money Can Ruin Relationships – Read More
What Your Zodiac Sign Says About Your Money – Read More
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Charmaine Patterson is a journalist, lifestyle blogger, and a lover of all things pop culture. While she has much experience in covering top entertainment news stories, she aims to share her everyday life experiences, old and new, with other women who can relate, laugh, and love along with her. Follow Char on Twitter @charjpatterson, Instagram @charpatterson, and keep up with her journey at CharJPatterson.com .
Exclusive: Dreka Gates Talks Farm Life, Self-Mastery, And Her Wellness Brand
Dreka Gates is making a name in wellness through authenticity and innovativeness. Although we were introduced to her as a music manager for her husband, Kevin Gates, she has now carved out her own lane outside of music as a wellness entrepreneur. But according to Dreka, this is nothing new.
In an xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
Courtesy
If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But COVID hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
"I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots."
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
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It never fails. Whenever the topic of me and my super long bout of abstinence comes up in conversation, one thing that people ask me is how in the world was I able to pull it off? That is a book within itself, but what I will say, as it relates to this article and the 10 women who contributed to it, there is something very empowering about abstinence, especially when you enjoy sex as much as I do.
It teaches you about self-control. It teaches you how to learn (more) about what your needs are beyond the obvious when it comes to holistic self-awareness, relational connection, and even sensual pleasure. It also teaches you how to tap into deeper levels of your femininity — and spirituality — and all of this can cause you to feel good about yourself in a way that’s very different from any other decision that you may make as it relates to your overall health and well-being.
Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it, though. Take a moment to check out what these women had to say about what going without sex, for a season, did for them. It just might surprise — or even inspire — you.
*Middle names are always used by me so that people can speak freely*
1. Andrea. 29. Abstinent for Six Months.
“The sex with my ex had me so f-cked up. In a good way, kind of, and then in a f-cked up way too. The best way to explain is, we had been together for three years, and before him, I hadn’t had an orgasm before; with him, I had multiples, almost every time. A first orgasm is like a first hit of a drug — it’s so addicting that you’ll rationalize all kinds of reasons to stay in something that isn’t working otherwise. That was us. When we broke up, we still kept having sex, and that was making me feel worse about myself because I knew that I deserved more than just a sex high.
"So, I cold turkey stopped to get back to me — and I’ve needed more than a couple of months to do that. No more sex with him has made me get back to me: who I am and what I really want. It’s made me see relationships and sex differently. I’m still figuring it out, but to get back control of my heart and my body has been good because I know that next time, I will be in better control of how I feel about a man — and how he makes me feel. I won’t compromise either one. Not settling is sexy to me.”
"I won't compromise either one. Not settling is sexy to me."
2. Jameela. 44. Abstinent for Three Years.
“My husband was my first. A part of the reason why we divorced was sex-related — we just weren’t in sync that way. After six months of therapy to heal, I went on what I call a ‘sex adventure’ to see what I really wanted from intimacy. After I got the answers, I decided to be abstinent because I also wanted to see how my new understanding of my sexuality lined up with who I was after the divorce. The adventure lasted for about a year and a half. I’ve been abstinent for double that.
"It wasn’t on purpose, it’s just…once you know who you are, what you like, and what you need — when you know it for sure, you’re not anxious. My marriage had me anxious because I knew that something was missing. Now, I know what that was, and I can wait until the whole package comes along. I think men knowing that ‘I’m good’ is what they find to be really sexy. I know I would.”
3. Waylen. 37. Abstinent for Seven Months.
“The most attention that I would give my body was during sex. Yes, I’d bathe and do the basic stuff — I mean that I wouldn’t make the time to ‘love on me’ the way I would expect my partners to. That caused something to be missing during sex, so I decided to take a ‘time out’ to see what I was going without. Trying different scents, seeing what colors I like to see myself in, creating romantic evenings at home with nothing but me, some flowers and throwback R&B, exchanging cotton sheets for silk ones, giving myself vaginal massages — how do you expect someone to make love to you when you don’t even do it? Abstinence has been a sensual and satisfying experience.”
4. Leeyah. 50. Abstinent for 16 Months.
“I think all women should be abstinent at least once or twice in their lifetime. Our culture makes us feel like all we have to offer is a pretty face and a vagina a lot of times — we need to get off of the ride and remind ourselves that we have a lot of players and plenty to offer. My first year was about getting over an ex. This year has been about celebrating me. Some of it has sexual components to it. I’ve done vaginal mapping. I get facials for my vagina. I buy lingerie for myself. You’ve gotten me into doing sex journaling, and that has taught me a ton.
"I’m seeing someone now, and we do tantric breathing together, which teaches me how to release and restrain my sexual power. Abstinence reminds me that sex is a part of who I am, not all of it — and that the people who should have sex with me should treat me that way. That makes me feel like a sex goddess.”
5. Jaya. 41. Abstinent for Two Months.
“Somebody should’ve told me how hard this abstinence sh-t was going to be. Damn! I’m only doing it because the past three sex partners I’ve had? The sex was trash, and they weren’t anything to write home about either. It’s easy to blame everything on someone else, but if I’m always choosing men I have to fake it with, what does that say about me? I’m using abstinence to show me that. What I’ve gotten so far is I don’t prioritize my pleasure like I should.
"Girl, I’ve had more orgasms with this damn rose in my nightstand than any d-ck this year. If I’m not faking it alone, I damn sure need to stop with these dudes out here. Let’s see what I learn next month. After that, I think I’m done. Ain’t no point in doing this if I’m gonna end up homeless from snapping at work and losing my job. [Abstinence] is showing me some things. I won’t lie.”
6. Raddix. 37. Abstinent for Two Years.
“My abstinence journey started out as a bet. One of my guy friends bet me that he could hold out longer than I could; the prize was a vacation on the other person’s dime. Are you surprised that he gave in after five months, and I’m still going strong after two years? It was on the trip that he paid for that I decided to keep going.
"I went to Hawaii and got pampered for 10 days. It made me see myself in a different way because pampering is such a sensual experience, and even though I’ve had good sex, I haven’t felt pampered during any of it. No sex makes me want to bring that into it. I’m ready to have sex again, but if you can’t make me feel better than a Hawaiian massage, even with your voice and words alone — I’ll pass. I've gone this long. I'll wait."
7. Brenn. 26. Abstinent for One Year. (Kind Of.)
“Abstinence is a fascinating topic because, shouldn’t we ask people what kind of abstinent they are? I’ve gone without intercourse because I needed a break from birth control. I have a latex allergy, so I do the shot. But don’t think that I’m not getting ‘munched on’. Are you crazy?! I don’t know why oral doesn’t get more props. Orgasms without the risk of pregnancy is next level! And girl, being ‘served’ like that? You are gonna feel sexier than ever!”
8. Milan. 33. Abstinent for Nine Months.
“Nine months is on purpose. I figure that the amount of time that it takes to create a child is a good amount of time to recreate myself. For years, I was the kind of woman who found validation in my sexuality because if there is one area where I know I am excellent, it’s there. But there’s more to who I am than that, and I needed to go without sex to come to this space.
"Having sex made me feel sexy. Not having sex tapped into a sensuality that I needed to explore by myself. Now that I think I’m ready to have sex again, partners will be with a woman who’s explored other areas of herself — they will experience parts of me that I’m just getting to see. It will be a deeper experience. I love that for me — and for them.”
9. Elizabeth. 39. Abstinent for Seven Years.
“You know when you told me that abstinence makes you pickier? Girl, you ain’t neva lied! If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be going without some good ‘D’ for multiple years, I would have been the first to cuss you out — but here it is, seven years later, and I’m still going strong. I can’t tell you that I haven’t had some ‘kisses down below’ or that I don’t enjoy ‘returning the favor,’ but I haven’t been ready to let another man inside of my body, in that way, yet. Self-restraint shows you that you really are the prize. You’ve got to earn this, baby — when the right man does, it will pay off.”
10. Michelle. 40. Abstinent for 3-6 Months. Annually.
“Something that I’ve been doing for the past six years is making sure that I go through at least one season a year of abstinence — season means spring, summer, fall, or winter. One year, I did it because I wanted to cleanse out everything while I was doing a detox, which I also do once a year. I just felt so purified that I decided to make it an annual thing.
"There’s something about purging all of that energy out of your system that’s so freeing to me because, when there is nothing in you but you, it creates a level of self-confidence that you can’t get another way. Seven years later, no regrets. Abstinence reminds me to prioritize me. Damn, it doesn’t get sexier than that…does it?”
Sis, I totally cosign. It really doesn’t.
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Featured image by Delmaine Donson/Getty Images