We live in an increasingly digital world, where –from businesses to individuals–people depend heavily on mobile apps and online-based tools to make their lives easier. And as anyone would imagine, there’s a plethora of such tools that can help you save money and pave the way to a better financial future.
Better yet, most of these tools can be automated to minimize manual input from the user as much as possible. The best part is that some of them are completely free to use, with others having the option to upgrade to premium features or services.
To cut the long story short, here are nine free online tools you can use to save money – over and over again.
Budgeting Tools
Nothing is more important than being in control of your finances these days, personal or business. And it goes without saying; a big part of it involves always knowing where your money is going and how it is being spent. Some free online tools that can help make your budget processes easy include:
1. Mint:
Mint is an online budgeting tool that provides an easy-to-navigate interface and helps you find ways to save money. Basically, it helps you know where your money is going and how much you’re spending.
The tool comes with an array of capabilities, including financial goal-setting, creating budget categories, and monthly reports. It also let’s set alerts for balances, due dates for payments, and notifications whenever you exceed your budget.
2. Personal Capital:
While it was primarily designed to help you manage your investments, this free tool also helps you keep track of your budget. Great for investors looking to grow their wealth, Personal Capital also comes with an Investment Analyzer feature that helps you know if you’re paying excessive broker fees. It will also suggest adjustments that you can make to better attain your financial objectives.
3. You Need A Budget (YNAB):
YNAB is a budgeting and personal finance app that helps you create a budget and stick to it. It also helps you build better money habits, meaning you can save money without even noticing with YNAB.
Expense Tracking and Bill Management Tools
From time to time, bills and expenses can go above your planned budget, sometimes attracting penalties and fines. Luckily, there are several online tools that you can use to prevent this. These include:
4. Expensify:
This expense management tool helps you track and manage business expenses. The tool is also designed to help you easily create invoices, generate expense reports, and pay bills. You can even split bills with friends for certain personal expenses. The paid version allows you to integrate accounting and run payroll,
5. Quicken:
This financial management software helps you keep track of your income, expenses, and investments under one platform. It helps you create a realistic budget that you can stick to. If you’d rather stay on top of bills and expenses on mobile, Prism and Wally can be worth looking into.
Document Management Tools
Document management systems allow you to easily organize, manage, and share digital documents. Many of these tools allow you to automate manual processes to reduce the need for manual labor, thus freeing up resources and reducing expenses.
Some of them are designed to help make your documents more manageable and useful while saving time and money. Some good free options to consider include:
6. Simpli Free PDF Converter:
Free PDF Converters are a great way to save money for businesses. They allow you to convert PDF documents quickly into other digital formats, such as Word, PNG, and JPEG without having to purchase expensive software.
With a tool like Simpli, editing a PDF free is also quick, easy, and hassle-free. All you need to do is upload the target document, make your edits, and save it in your preferred digital format. This can save you the trouble of having to redo an entire document just because it needs a few adjustments.
7. Scanning and Imaging Software:
Scanning and imaging software can help you digitize physical documents, reducing the need for paper and associated costs. Besides free PDF converters, some examples of such tools include NewOCR, Small SEO Tools OCR, and Free Online OCR.
8. Cloud Storage Solutions:
Cloud storage solutions are becoming increasingly popular. These services allow you to store your documents online, reducing the need for physical storage space and associated costs. A pretty good example is Google Drive, which is completely free for the first 15 GB of storage.
Many cloud storage solutions also come with an array of other useful features, from word processors to spreadsheets, document converters, and much more.
Communication and Team Collaboration Tools
In an age when the demand for remote work is explosively growing, team collaboration tools are increasingly becoming popular – and almost inevitable. Many of them are totally free and let you save money.
9. Slack:
Slack is by far among the best free online tools for easy communication and collaboration among remote teams. While the free version comes with so many features, you can always upgrade your account to access unlimited archives and apps at a fairly considerate cost monthly. Alternatively, you can use Trello, which is basically designed to make project management a breeze.
