When you develop smart spending habits, especially at a young age, you position yourself for better financial security for a lifetime. Fortunately, today you can use a budgeting app to help you make good decisions and save money.

Managing your money can be a stressful experience for many. When you combine an app for saving money with some smart tips to help you save, your personal finances will be in good shape.

Here are 7 tips for your personal finances and a look at the best money-saving apps to reduce your stress.

1. Download a Budgeting App

The best budgeting apps give you easy, actionable ways to manage your money and understand where you’re spending it. Budgeting apps are usually free to use and provide you with the power you need to take control of your finances.

Often, financial-related stress comes from not having a clear view of balances, how much you can spend, or where your money is going. Money-saving apps are a tool that helps you understand how you can save money and show progress over time.

2. Pay Off High-Interest Debt and Large Balances

Many people struggle with credit card debt and can quickly get into trouble with the interest rates that create large balances fast. When you’re carrying big balances on high-interest credit cards, it can be hard to climb out of a financial deficit.

Using a money-saving app, you can keep balances and interest rates top of mind to strategically plan out what you’re paying. By focusing on high-interest, high-balance accounts first, you’ll be able to steadily reduce your debt.

3. Make a Budget

Few people enjoy making a budget, but it’s one of the most important steps to managing your finances. When combined with a saving app, a budget can be an empowering document.

Start budgeting by recording all of your fixed expenses, including rent or mortgage payments, student loan payments, credit cards, and car loans. Don’t forget smaller bills like subscription fees (Netflix, Planet Fitness, Audible, etc.), which can add up when taken all together. Next, you’ll factor in essentials such as food, clothing, and utilities.

From there, you can track your discretionary income spent on entertainment, hobbies, and recreational activities. Some of your “fixed” bills, such as subscriptions, may actually fit into this category. You’ll also want to include some savings to ensure you have access to funds when you need them.

By making and using a budget for several months, you can get a clear sense of where your money is spent.

4. Check Your Balances

One way that people often handle stress is to ignore it. With your account balance, ignorance is certainly not bliss. Balances are a way to remind you of what you owe and what you’ve saved. Balances also indicate activity on your various accounts.

While avoidance may help temporarily alleviate stress, it’s a good idea to schedule time every week to look at your balances and see where you are financially.

5. Pay Bills on Time

You can help your financial stress by ensuring that you pay every bill on time. Credit cards can raise your interest rates after just one late payment. Other accounts likely will impose late fees on accounts that are delinquent. Save money and build good credit relationships by paying bills every month when they’re due.

6. Pay Yourself First

When you leave yourself last – deciding how much is left over for you to save – you’re less likely to build your savings. Instead, make savings one of your priorities each month and “pay” yourself first. If you get a raise, increase how much money you deposit into savings. The same goes for your tax return and other financial bumps.

7. Consult with an Expert

Financial planners help people at all stages of their lives by making smart decisions around money. Financial planners and money coaches help you minimize interest paid, maximize savings, and have financial freedom and flexibility. Planners can help develop strategies to save for a house, a wedding or educational needs, or other major purchases.

Use Apps that Help You Save

Compare your options and find the best app for saving money and relieving financial stress in your life. Innovative apps like Spave can take it a step further, helping you save while also giving back to your community with every transaction you make.

Spave is a free-to-use app designed to empower your financial decisions. With Spave, you can track and analyze your purchases and choose to contribute a percentage of each purchase to a savings account. You can also choose to contribute a percentage to one of more than 1.5 million accredited charities.

Spave lets you set personal finance goals and track your progress. It puts the power of financial decision-making in your hands and helps you save and spend smartly.

Learn more about how Spave can take the stress out of personal finance by downloading the app from Google Play or the App Store.