Budgets are fun, aren’t they? We’re being sarcastic, of course, unless you actually know someone who’s ever said “I like seeing how much discretionary income I don’t have”, in which case we’re sorry, that person must be fun to hang out with (more sarcasm). As annoying as budgets are to do, they are often a necessity in order to get from one paycheck to the next. In the fifteen plus years we’ve been in business, we’ve noted a growing trend of Americans having to do just that; live from paycheck to paycheck. More often than not, that expression covers two paychecks at a time.

As frustrating as the process may be, there are actually many tools that can be utilized – free of charge and available online – in order to help you create a budget and make the task a little easier. We can guess what you might be thinking: “Do I have to give my financial information to some company in order to use their product”? Fair question, and the answer in many cases is ‘yes’.

But there are a few programs available that don’t require you to connect with your bank or give them your monetary particulars. This one, for instance, called Cash Base, is an expenditure tracking software that will synch your smartphone to your home computer so you can use it in mobile situations. Billed as the ‘personal finance software for people who hate personal finance software’, the program allows you to create a budget, track your expenditures, and even predict your potential expenditures and savings up to twelve months in advance.

There is a version of the software that you pay to use, and there is a free version with fewer features. This is just one example of budgeting software that does not require inputting financial information to a website. This is not an ad for Cash Base, and is not affiliated with CASH 1. We cannot vouch for the quality of the software. CASH 1 strongly recommends looking into other similar applications before making a choice on just one.

Some budgetary software requires you to give your financial information to the website in order to fully utilize their features. Be aware that there are always scam artists who pretend to offer budget software but are trying to get your information. Here’s a reputable website that offers the kind of budgetary software we’re talking about: Mint.com. If you’re wondering whether you can trust Mint with your information, here’s an investigation into the software done by the New York Times.

There are probably a thousand things you can think of that you’d rather be doing with your time than budgeting your hard-earned money. We tend to agree, but worse than taking the time to plan your finances is the difficult prospect of unexpected monetary needs. Expenses you never thought you would need will occur when you least expect, and always when you don’t want them to. If you find yourself in this situation, come see us at CASH 1. We’ve got Nevada payday loans and title loans that will fit your budget and take care of your financially unexpected occurrences.