14 Easy Budgeting Strategies to Help You Save Big the Rest of 2024

A new year doesn't have to start on January 1. Any day can be the start of your new year — which means new opportunities, such as revisiting your long- and short-term goals and establishing a plan to meet them. 

If your 2024 goals involve trying to get ahead financially, this is your list.

After scouring our archives for the absolute best budgeting apps and adding in a few extra budgeting strategies — we're able to bring you this complete roundup of the best ways to get back on your budgeting A-game. 

Ready for a new year, new financially secure you? Keep reading.

When it comes down to it, budgeting is all about learning how to manage your money. A lot of this will depend on your income and expenses. 

One tried-and-true budgeting method is classic budgeting, where you track and subtract your monthly expenses from your income. You can keep it simple with a pen and paper or opt for a more complex spreadsheet.

This will help you get a sense of where you are financially, what (if anything) is leftover, or where your savings efforts could be improved. 

If you find that your monthly expenses exceed your paychecks, then it might be time to either scale back spending or pick up one of the best side hustles to support your lifestyle.

If you're ready to take your budgeting to the next level, you might want to try zero-based budgeting. 

Much like classic budgeting, this method involves writing down all of your monthly income and bills, breaking them down into detailed categories, and then examining what's left.

The key difference is that rather than just spending that leftover money on something random, you'll instead assign a destination for it. Maybe this is a savings account or an investment account for your retirement. 

Start by asking yourself: If you could do anything with this extra money — what would you do? Save up for a car? Go back to school? Finally, pay off your debts? 

Whatever your financial goals are, make a plan to meet them. Even if that means just scraping $100 out of your monthly income and putting it aside — that money will add up.

Although some people might like the level of detail involved in listing out all their monthly expenses, others may not. If lists aren't your thing, then you'll probably like the 50/30/20 budgeting method. 

Rather than itemizing your income and expenses, simply plan on dividing your money into an easy-to-remember 50/30/20 ratio, in which 50% of your income goes toward your needs, 30% toward your wants, and 20% toward savings or paying off debt.

This is a great budget for people who have the income to afford that 30% in spending on wants but also want to control their spending habits a bit more. 

If you can assign a monetary value to 30% of your monthly income, then you can track how much of it you've spent. 

Similarly, you'll be able to plan in advance on allocating that 20% to one of the best savings accounts or toward paying down any debts you may have.

This method also involves categorizing money, but instead of making an abstract list, you'll physically put money in envelopes. 

Start by gathering some envelopes and writing out your spending categories on each one. This might include things like food and utilities or even gifts. Once you've done that, allocate funds to each one.

This type of budgeting should be done every time you cash a paycheck because it allows you to immediately assign a category to your money. It's also a great option for anyone who receives actual physical cash as payment, such as those working in the food industry. 

Under this type of budgeting, once an envelope is empty, that spending category is considered exhausted until your next pay period.

Speaking of the food industry, if you find yourself working in a field that's been hard-hit by the pandemic, now might be a good time to try this bare-bones budgeting method. 

The bare-bones budget is pretty much exactly what it sounds like — a budget that takes your nonessential spending down to zero to help you pay for essentials like food and rent.

Start by reviewing your spending for the last month, and then plan to cut any unnecessary expenses for the coming month. 

This method will not only help you get through a rough patch, but it might also help you avoid racking up extensive debt while you get back on your feet.

Sometimes budgeting is all about finding the means to pay off debt. If that describes your situation, then you might want to try the debt snowball method. 

The debt snowball method requires you to focus on paying off your smallest debts first, then working your way up to the larger ones.

Get started by making a list of all of your debts, then pick one (preferably the smallest one with the highest interest rate) and focus on aggressively paying it down while still meeting minimum payments on your other debts. 

Although starting small might seem counterintuitive, a lot of people like this method for the sense of accomplishment it brings. 

Paying off any debt (even the smallest one), will inspire you to keep going and take on bigger challenges toward becoming debt-free.

Another type of budgeting that will help you focus your efforts on paying down debts is the debt avalanche method. Unlike the debt snowball method, this strategy has you paying down your debts with the highest interest rates first.

This method works best for people with lots of debt who are wondering where to start. By starting with the debt (regardless of amount) that has the highest interest rate, you'll actually be saving yourself money — as those debts won't be left to grow at such a high rate.

If this whole setting-up-your-own-budget thing doesn't sound like the right fit, then it might just be worth checking out a few top-rated budgeting apps that can help. And if you want to start out nice and slow, Rocket Money is a great one to check out. 

Rocket Money offers a free and premium membership. You can choose your own price for a premium membership, from $4 to $12 per month. 

The free membership comes with basic budgeting features, whereas the premium membership offers more robust features like bill negotiation and cancellation.

Rather than limiting your spending or dividing things into categories, a Rocket Money premium membership may help you spend less by identifying nonessential expenses — expenses you might not even know you're paying. 

After you sign up and link your bank and credit card accounts to Rocket Money, the app will analyze your bills and spending and suggest ways to cut (or even lower) those expenses.

Another heavy-lifting budgeting app, Oportun makes it easy to reach your savings goals without even thinking about it. 

By connecting your bank accounts, analyzing your income and expenses, and even taking into account your preferred minimum balance, Digit helps you save all those extra unspoken-for dollars and puts them into the savings account of your choice. 

Need more cash for grad school or your dream vacation? Oportun will help you save up for it, a little bit at a time. You can sign up for Oportun for as little as $5.00 per month.

Another great budgeting app, this time from the creators of Quicken — Simplifi will help you see the big picture of your finances and help you make adjustments to meet your goals.

With the ability to connect to more than 14,000 financial institutions, it will examine your checking and savings accounts, as well as all of your outstanding debts and investments. 

With that bird' s-eye view of your finances, Simplifi then helps you identify areas for improvement, such as cutting spending, improving savings, and even paying down debt.

With Simplifi, your first 30 days are free. After that, you can select either an annual plan (for $2.99 per month or $35.99 billed annually) or a monthly plan (for $3.99 per month).

Praised as being a more proactive budgeting app, YNAB (short for "You need a budget") won't just send you an analysis of your finances at the end of every month. Instead, it'll actively work with you to improve your financial standing. 

The company prides itself on actually teaching users how to budget by setting goals like stashing aside various emergency funds, breaking the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, and investing money in the right places.

If you prefer a hands-on approach, consider trying YNAB. Although free for the first 34 days, YNAB operates on a subscription basis and costs $9.08 per month for a monthly plan or $109 annually for a yearly plan.

Wally is another great budgeting app, especially if you enjoy some flexibility when it comes to mapping out your budget. Wally offers fully-customizable budgeting plans that allow you to either cap your monthly spending in certain categories or allocate extra funds to savings.

Its easy-to-use application lets you monitor your progress in real-time, which means you won't ever have to guess how you're doing. 

The app also provides various views, including a financial calendar, which allows you to track expenses and see where all of your accounts are at once. Worried about accountability? Set up reminders to stay on track.

Wally offers a basic free service, but to set up unlimited accounts and budgets, you'll need to upgrade to the $1.99 per month plan.

Looking for an app that does the heavy lifting for you? Then you might like PocketGuard. 

This budgeting app not only helps you track bills by providing that big picture on all your accounts, but it also helps you set up automatic transactions to stay on top of your goals. 

Want to set aside $200 a month for an emergency fund or start saving larger amounts for your retirement? PocketGuard can do all of that.

By analyzing your full financial picture, PocketGuard lets you know just exactly what expendable income you have left, then helps you decide how to best allocate that money to reach your short- and long-term goals. 

PocketGuard's basic plan is free to use, but if you'd like to have access to their offerings under PocketGuard Plus, you'll need to pay $3.99 per month or $34.99 for the year.

One of the reasons we love EveryDollar is that it keeps things simple. For those interested in getting a full picture of their spending and maximizing savings and debt payments, EveryDollar will help you do just that.

Start by entering your monthly income and then set up categories for your spending. The app will then help you see what's left in each budget category, and give tips on how to save more, spend less, and allocate your extra funds toward paying down your debts. 

EveryDollar is free, but if you'd like to connect your accounts for financial tracking, you'll need Ramsey Plus (formerly EveryDollar Plus), which is $129.99 per year after a 14-day free trial period.

Budgeting doesn't have to be complicated, and the great thing about getting started with your budget now is just how many options are available. 

Whether you prefer to keep things simple by making your own lists or if you'd rather work with a top-rated budgeting app — there's really no end to the ways you can organize your money to meet your goals.

Get started by deciding what's most important to you. Maybe it's spending less, saving for something special, or paying down your debts. 

Once you have your overall goal in mind, revisit this list to find the best solution that will help you reach your 2024 personal finance goals.