The Best Apps for Budgeting Your Cash

Budgeting used to be a huge chore. Tracking your every expenditure, holding onto receipts, and making sure a few of those dollars got squirreled away for savings each month - ugh. Luckily there's a plethora of apps and services available now to take the pain out of making sure you live within your means.

At the most basic, Level Money (free on iOS and Android) is a straightforward, no-stress tool for making sure you are spending within your means. It looks at how much money you take in each month, how much you spend on rent and bills, how much you want to save, and then gives you an amount you're allowed to spend each day. The app plots out how well you stick to that daily budget, and if you're under that amount at the end of the week or month (woo, extra money!). You can use that to splurge on yourself, or for additional savings.

Mint (free), of course, is the old standby. It's one of the most comprehensive money management apps out there, showing exactly what areas your money goes to each month (things like Shopping or Utilities) once you link your credit cards, bank accounts, mortgages, and investments. Like Level, Mint automatically sets a budget for you, and also lets you manually enter cash transactions as well. The app is available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

While broad financial management tools like Level Money and Mint are great for staying on budget, it's also a good idea to download your bank- and credit card-specific apps. Almost all major banks and credit unions have their own dedicated mobile apps. In addition to giving you an overview of your account, they also let you do things like make mobile check deposits and transfer money between accounts.

If you often have to keep track of business expenses and receipts, a scanning app is also super handy. Scanner Pro ($3) for iOS and CamScanner (free) for Android are two apps that let you take pictures of documents like receipts and save them as PDFs. You can then easily share that PDF via email or print it out.

Have other useful mobile tools for budgeting your money? Feel free to share them in the comments.