I will tell you how you can use your smartphone to keep track of your expenses and learn how to save money for the things you want.
Smartphones have penetrated deeply into people's daily lives. In Russia, 86.2% of the population aged 12 to 24 and 67.7% aged 25 to 44 actively use smartphones on an ongoing basis, and 15% of the population goes online only on mobile devices (according to TNS Web Index). My observations of others show that many people when working with a smartphone are limited to social networks, instant messengers, a browser and sometimes games. So I got the idea to start a series of materials on how a mobile device can help make life easier in solving everyday problems.
We will start by solving financial issues. I have never been involved in calculating my expenses, so preparing for the material was interesting to me myself.
Track expenses
A notepad and a pen are enough to record all purchases. But I have never been able to train myself to keep a paper shopping diary. The Sberbank app turned out to be the ideal option for me. The mobile client automatically distributes all transactions on the card into categories: supermarkets. restaurants and cafes, payments, health and beauty, recreation and entertainment, other expenses.
For each category, you can view the transaction history in the form of 'amount, payment date and beneficiary name'. If the algorithm is wrong, the name and category of the operation can be changed manually.
Sberbank Online helped to find out that I was withdrawing money for a subscription to the service Apple Music, which I do not use. Using cost accounting, you can identify unnecessarily costly items that are detrimental to the budget. This feature should be available in all banks.
But this method of accounting for expenses is suitable only for those who use only one bank card for purchases. A separate application can be used to calculate all waste. There are tons of them on Google Play, but be prepared to pay big bucks for a quality program.
I liked the Zen Mani app. It is able to recognize purchases from the bank's SMS notifications and supports synchronization with the systems of Alfa-Bank, VTB 24, Sberbank and Tinkoff Bank. You can add other family members to your budget. There is a record of income, savings on the card and cash, debts. The main thing is to accustom yourself to enter data into the application after each operation with money.
Zen Mani works by subscription. One month costs 99 rubles, a year – 588 rubles. You can buy the application forever for 1,299 rubles. The developer lets you try the full version of the service for free
two weeks.
Saving money
I also never knew how to save money for something. Now I am experimenting with the 'Targets' and 'Piggy Bank' function in Sberbank Online. You can add the desired purchase right in the application, indicate the amount and the date of achieving the goal. For this, a deposit is made in the bank at 1.5% per annum. The matter is small – you need to replenish the virtual piggy bank. You can do this 'manually' by transferring money in the application or set up auto-top-up with the 'Piggy Bank' function.
There are 4 options for replenishing the piggy bank: a certain amount once a week or a month and a percentage of income or expenses. The minimum deposit amount is 100 rubles. The plus is that the accumulated money does not lie on the card and it is more difficult to spend it. But if necessary, money from the piggy bank can be returned to the account directly in the mobile application, if there is an urgent need.
I saw a similar function only in the Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff application, I'm not sure about the rest. In any bank, you can open a replenishment deposit under conditions favorable to you and use it as a piggy bank. Now it is not necessary to go to the office for this, a smartphone with an online bank client is enough.
Let's summarize
For trips to the store, I advise you to make a list of products in advance. This way you won't forget what you need and don't buy too much. For this, notes in Google Keep are suitable. Share your tips on how a smartphone helps you work with money and in life in general.