How to manage MONEY: make life easier! iPhone APPS that help.

Life. Easier than Auto Pay!

Having hard time tracking expenses like me? If you own iPhone or iTouch, there are APPS that can help you feel much more organized and better about finances. I downloaded 5 , no 6 highly rated apps on my iTouch, but mind you, there are far more to download and review :) So if you own/use one that you feel is better, feel free to email me your own review!

Criteria. First off, I am not easily swayed by UI that is b-e-a-u-tiful. I am looking for an app that is easy to use and does the job done.


1. PAGEONCE.  
I removed Pageonce from my list, because it was not what I was looking for. It was very similar to Mint.com, where you have to be brave enough to enter your bank accounts, usernames, and passwords into corresponding graphs. Honestly, I don't even trust myself with that information.
On to the review. Can I finally be happy? Now, I will be able to track my daily spending and have the ability to backup/sinc with my computer.

1. Ace Budget. - 4,5 stars out of 63 ratings- Ace was very 1st app that I downloaded. In order to organize better, I needed to know, how much was my income, and how much did I have on my cards/bank accounts. So, just about an hour before posting this, I went to the bank. A scary moment for me, because I not only have a crazy amount of expenses, but also an unhealthy spending habit. PG&E bill is scheduled for 03/11 this month. AT&T charged me a whopping $112 for the 1st month, and will adjust to $30 per month starting next month. 03/15 is for T-Mobile. Its not on autopay, so I realize that I don't even know when is it due. (Apparently I am late, it was due on 3/15). And $200 for tutor. Not to mention gas for the car (about $20/3 days), bridge toll ($6/day), and food (God knows! I hadn't tracked this one, yet, but I know this is going to be a huge one).
2. Expensense. It was rated 5 stars, but only had 25 ratings. I was a little wary downloading something this new, because it might need to forego updates and minor tweaking/fixes - a common thing for new apps. From the "fairly new" budget apps, there was also Budgetcare and iMoneytracker, which only had 6 reviews, so I did well with Expensense. OK so Expensense is a beautiful software. To enter Recurring events though, you need to enter them separately, rather than just check a "recurring option", which to me is a waste of my time. What I liked: I liked a calendar view, which makes it very easy to see all my transactions. What I didn't like: Double work by having to enter recurring transactions separately. The verdict: 4.5 stars from me for easy use. Overall, the software accomplished what was intended, but didn't give me the sigh of relief after I was done with it. 
3. Pocket Money - rated 4 stars, out of 92 - Using Quicken? One of it's highlights is that you can definitely export your qif files, so this app can replace QuickenPocket.
4. Lohas Money. Lohas is a very beautiful app, with a theme of wooden board and green leaves. If that doesn't make you think money, what does? Entering of the date didn't take me to a calendar view, but rather to "scroll" of the dates, which was fine. Entering expenses as well as reocurring expenses was easy as well, because my categories were already there! Since it's so comprehensive, I made a few mistakes: for example I entered my bills into "Expenses", not realizing there was an option - that's right, I entered my bills under "recurring expenses", LOL. Unlike Nexus, who has + and - categories, Lohas gave me Expense, Income, Budget, Bill, and Account categories. So I deleted my "expenses" and entered Bills - they are not set to be automatically recurring, you need to go to Bill Date and check "recurring" - as well as you can set them as "Paid" or "Unpaid". Lohas money makes it easier to select Paid by simply giving you an option to check from the calendar view.  Is Rent a bill or expense? Hmm. That is confusing. After pondering about it, I saw no reason for the category Bills, as Bills ARE a type of Expense, so I decided to enter ALL expenses into Expenses category, including my bills. Then there's an Export option, which was great for backing up my data - in case if I ever lost my iTouch. Verdict: 4 stars from me. A  little confusing, but definitely a pretty app.
5. Nexus Money. Nexus is a very easy expense tracking program, but it is lacking input for bank account and credit cards. Basically, each day you type whether you earned or spent money and the amount - For expense, just click on minus sign (-) and for income, it's a plus (+). Your balance will be seen on top at all times. What I liked: Easy Input, slide finger forward or backward to various dates, calendar view, easy view of the balance. What I didn't like: We can't talk about budgeting if I can't input a total from my bank. The verdict: 3 stars - will be deleting this one. It is way too simple and not comprehensive enough for my needs
6. Money by iBear. Besides the fact that it took it awhile to load, iBear was really, really nice. To set up a recurring expense, just go to Planned and select a date. If you are on Autopay, there's an option "Automatic" you can select! That's great! You can assign various Icons for ease of use, which was fun. iBear however didn't have a Due Date to pay off my Credit Card. You can Sinc with computer, which I really wanted. Also, I didn't like that with your expenses, you need to make sure to check Paid option which is not very obvious - its in the second paragraph under the Amount tab. Lohas money makes it easier to select Paid by simply giving you an option to check from the calendar menu (only found under Bills). What I liked: Very straight forward, liked that Expenses were automatically set to be recurring once a month, Didn't like that they were automatically set on "Unpaid" and there's no way to make it "paid" right away unless you are on Automatic Pay. Even with Income, I still have to go back and check "Paid" option, which is a pain. The Verdict: 5 stars, the learning curve wasn't too steep, the app offered everything I wanted, so I am going to stick with this one :) There's also an emotional satisfaction from using it. 

Conclusion: I really enjoyed my journey, and playing around with apps has made me less afraid(or should I say, completely UNAFRAID, of my finances). Before, I was so overwhelmed with my bills, that it make me think they were much more than they actually are! I am now much happier, knowing that my bills were not as scary as they seemed, and that managing my money has become much easier and fun. TRY IT!!!