$0.99 for iPhone
Not available for Android

Description

Wise men say that you have to spend money to save money, and although it's doubtful that that philosophy took into consideration spending money on iPhone apps, in this case it works. Spend is an application that helps you keep track of your money through the use of a simple interface and an easy-to-understand budgeting method. Users in other countries will be particularly pleased to see that Spend supports different settings for international currencies.

The Good

The application's ability to operate fully without having to be connected to a network is one of its greatest appeals, primarily because when you're out and about spending money, you'll likely want to enter all of your debit transactions as you go instead of waiting to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. Its Statistics view is also incredibly helpful in giving you a textual and graph-chart view of your spending habits that you can view by week, month and year. Statistics will tell you, for example, how much money you've spent in either of the given timeframes, and also shows you the average amount of spending that translates to on a daily basis. If having that information up before your eyes isn't enough to make you want to button down your spending habits, then nothing else will.

The Bad

Spend is far from perfect, probably so because it was intended as a simplistic tool for those who don't want to go whole-hog and buy expensive PC software. One of the things that it's missing is the ability to backdate transactions. Say you spent $500 at Best Buy last week just after payday (naughty, naughty) and you want to include that transaction in your running summary so you won't get caught by surprise when the check clears the bank. Of course the easy answer is to enter the information in today, but for nitpickers this may be one reason to skip the app and keep looking for something with a bit more versatility.

The Bottom Line

Spend isn't just a tool to remind you how much money you're spending, but also to help you manage it. It comes with the ability to customize budgets with specific beginning and end dates, and by doing so acts as the perfect "gateway" program to developing a more sophisticated view of spending habits and what it takes to save money. The app will come in especially handy if you're moving, as you'll be able to track and monitor your spending conveniently without needing access to a desktop computer or laptop.

Image credit: iTunes