Mint.com

Betsy and Alissa have already heard me raving about the mint.com app, but what can I say? I'm a girl obsessed.

Mint.com is a free budget planning tool (you can use it online if you don't have a smart phone, too). You set budgets for different categories, like rent, car payment, insurance, groceries, restaurants, gas, etc, and enter in your monthly income. You can also add in one-time purchases, or go bi-weekly if you're really fancy. It syncs with your bank account(s) to itemize your spending, and also allows you to record cash purchases. It sends you alerts when you're nearing your budget max for a specific category, lets you know how much you have left for the month and gives suggestions on ways to save. What I really like about it is the "goals" feature. I have goals of a trip to LA and apartment furnishings, and it helps you calculate how much you'll need to meet your goals, and how much you should save each month based on your time frame (or in how much time you'll meet your goal based on how much you can put aside). I love this feature because it automatically subtracts your goal money from your expendable dough. That way, you don't even feel like you can spend that money, but if it were an emergency, you'd still have it.

I cannot recommend this tool enough! I think it's going to make it so much easier to keep track of what I'm doing and have fun, too.