Living on a tight budget is a reality but far too many folks allow this reality to bite. Organising budgets is about playing with numbers, managing expectations, and being creative when it comes to manoeuvring money. Much of this planning happens at the beginning of the month, but many make the mistake of being penny wise and pound foolish: why control your budget on a piece of paper when you can do more effective and creative calculations through downloadable apps?

1.) HandWallet — Expense Manager

Expense Manager is free, versatile, and packed with features. Its free version does more than enough for home users, but if you need more, there’s always the paid version too. Expense Manager allows you to track expenses, incomes, loans, and savings; it does so by allowing you to balance your account, control your credit cards, plan budgets, track all expenses, and keep you within your defined limits.

The app comes preloaded with more than 100 inbuilt categories and sub-categories, such as food, health, transportation, fuel etc. You can also create new categories to match your needs. It also allows you to set your currency; in this case, the Pakistani rupee. If you set up your credit card details, Expense Manager will help you track any and all payments to be made to your bank too. The app also provides you with interactive charts of all expenses incurred and where income was spent.

Expense Manager can be downloaded from the Play Store.

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2.) Daily Expense Manager (DEM)

Meet Daily Expense Manager (DEM): easy on the eye, intuitive and a daily tracker of what was spent where. Many of its functions are similar to Expense Manager, but its interface makes all the difference. The app is organised to help you control unwanted expenses through various modes of receiving and making payments. The app is password-protected, therefore giving you complete security and peace of mind. If you have longstanding troubles while planning and managing payments, DEM is your solution.

3.) Home Budget Manager Lite

Home Budget Manager Lite is for users comfortable with the Windows 8.1 interface, as this app is built on the same template. Its greatest utility is allowing you to use the app on multiple operating systems; the most recent release allows you to easily sync between Android and IOS devices via Dropbox.

All information is presented on the start-up screen, and you can simply swipe to head to your desired section. Data entry is far easier on Home Budget Manager Lite, although setting up the application might take a little longer.

Home Budget Manager Lite can be downloaded free on the Play Store or the Apple App Store. But a word of caution: the app’s range of features is only unleashed through in-app purchases, as the basic functions of this app are ... very basic.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 13th, 2014