I’m brand new to budgeting and honestly not great with numbers. I feel totally overwhelmed with home and work life, so things like paper budgeting, zero budgeting, cash envelopes, or even spreadsheets just aren’t gonna work for me. I’m looking for an app that can automate everything. What are the best options out there? Which ones are free, and which paid ones are worth it? Also, how do you categorize a purchase from Walmart or Amazon when it includes groceries, clothing, beauty items, and kid stuff all in one transaction? I’m really short on time and need some help. Thanks a ton for any advice! 
You should give YNAB a try. They have both a web version and an app. Plus, they offer a 34-day free trial, and you can link your accounts to it.
I totally get the overwhelm. YNAB is great because you can create categories like ‘Amazon’ and ‘Walmart’ for easy tracking. Just put everything you spend there into those categories until you get used to it.
That sounds helpful! So I can just lump everything from a store into one category for now?
Harlan said:
That sounds helpful! So I can just lump everything from a store into one category for now?
Exactly! Once you get the hang of it, you can break down transactions more specifically. YNAB even lets you split transactions into categories easily.
You might also want to check out Mint. It’s free and pretty easy to use. It automatically categorizes your purchases, but you might need to tweak it sometimes.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’m definitely going to look into YNAB and Mint. Just need something that takes the stress off budgeting.