Let's use Broke Betty as an example. The last step to help Betty increase her financial fuel is encouraging her to track progress. She’ll need a simple way to track her financial fuel and lots of encourage-ment along the way. Some people are great at sticking to a budget. Unfortunately, Betty isn’t one of them. She’s tried to budget, but found herself falling off the wagon repeatedly. Explore these tips and tools that will help Betty track her money.

__Focus on frequency, not amount:__ Betty has historically been told to set a budget that tells her how much she can spend by category (e.g., $300 for groceries, $100 for entertainment, etc.). Consistently keeping track of the amount in each category can be overwhelming. Instead, Betty can focus on frequency and get similar results. For example, instead of budgeting $300 on groceries, Betty can count the number of times she goes to the grocery store. If she goes two to three times per week, cut it back to one to two times per week. Sure, she’ll buy more each visit but, overall, we’ve seen that Betty spends less. More importantly, reducing frequency is a metric that Betty can easily track and change. (This applies to dining out, food delivery, and Amazon shopping as well.) __Go all cash:__ Cash is hard to hide. Betty will see cash leaving her hand. Encourage Betty to autosave 1% of her paycheck and use cash for as many expenses as possible. She can set aside rent, utilities, and other auto-bills. The remainder of her expenses, such as eating out, groceries, gas, etc. should be all cash. Yes, it’s less convenient. At the same time, it makes spending harder – a welcome barrier when she’s trying to save money. __Budgeting apps:__ There are tons of budgeting and personal finance apps. One app is not better than another. Instead, some apps are right for some people. Betty needs to find the one that's best for her. The list below would be a good starting point for Betty. | __App__ | __Good for__ | __Cost__ | | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | | [Calendar Budget](https://calendarbudget.com/home/) | Those who like visuals - calendar representation of your account balances, income, and expenses | 30-day free trial and then $3.99/month | | [DollarBird](https://dollarbird.co/) | Trying to break the check-to-check cycle - uses a calendar system to track your spending., not spending by categories; the main concept is daily cash management | Free version with limited functionality and paid versions from $4.99/month - $6.99/month | | [Goodbudget](https://goodbudget.com/) | Followers of the envelopes system who want an easy to use app; multiple family or household members can log in to the same account | Free version with limited functionality and a Plus version at $7/month or $60/year | | [Honeydue](https://www.honeydue.com/) | For couples - connect bank accounts and track balances, bills, spending; couples can also create custom categories, bill reminders, and household spending limits | Free | | [Mint](https://mint.intuit.com/) | Comprehensive budgeting and automated spending tracking; Mint also offers credit monitoring | Free | | [Personal Capital](https://www.personalcapital.com/) | Net worth and wealth tracking | Free for basic tracking | | [Totalist](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/totalist/id648115162) | Bare bones manually entering and tracking spending | Free | | [Trim](https://www.asktrim.com/) | Cost cutting - Trim negotiates your bills, contests your bank fees, and cancels your old subscriptions, among many other things. All done for you | 14-day free trial and then $99/year after that; if you agree to Trim's proposed bill negotiations, you'll pay 33% of what Trim saves you in a year in one lump sum. | | [TrueBill](https://www.truebill.com/) | Doing it all - tracks spending, gives you an overview of your accounts, and can cancel subscriptions and negotiate lower payments on phone, cable, and internet bills for you | Free to use with premiums options ranging from $3-$12/month or an annual cost of either $36 or $48 per year | | [YNAB](https://www.youneedabudget.com/) (You Need A Budget) | Super budgeters who want to follow zero-based budgeting | Free 34-day tria, then $11.99/month or $84/year | --- It's up to Betty; the choice is hers. It will likely take 6 to 12 months for Broke Betty to have consistent, positive financial fuel.

3 Ways to Start Budgeting

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