Yahoo News Blue Monday: here are five money apps to shake off the winter blues
The third Monday in January is widely revered, and hated, as ‘Blue Monday’.
Initially coined by a PR company over 10 years ago, Blue Monday is thought to be the most depressing day of the year. There are many reasons for this: those happy Christmas memories have started to fade; it’s said to be the day everyone receives their Christmas credit card bills and it is also when most people come to terms with their failing New Year’s resolutions --#NoMoreVeganuary.
Whilst it is trivial to suggest that simply one date a year causes widespread depression, it can feel like everything around you is reinforcing this notion that yes, today is the most depressing day of the year.
Instead of focusing on the negatives of Blue Monday, start small and look at one thing you can manage: money. There are a wealth of money management apps out there to make it better to manage your finances and save money without you realising it.
The best money apps to take on Blue Monday
1. Chip
Shake off the money blues in January with Chip. This savvy app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse your spending and save money for you weekly. When you sign up, you grant the app read-only access to see the transaction data in your online banking and Chip uses strong encryption to protect your banking login details.
Chip sees how much you’re spending a week and moves over a little amount every few days into a savings account hosted by Barclays. At first, Chip offers 0 percent interest on savings, but every time you invite a friend to join, you each earn 1 percent interest, up to 5 percent.
2. Curve
The Curve app is great if you have several different accounts across different banks. It brings together all your bank accounts and cards in one app, which is great for tracking your money, and allows you to spend money from any account with just the Curve Mastercard.
Curve explains how it works:
“You can select the account that you would like to pay with using Curve by simple opening the Curve app and tapping a bank card – that account will instantly become “active”, ready for you to spend with.”
As well, when you’re spending abroad, Curve only adds a one percent fee, compared to some banks which charge up to five percent.
3. Cleo
Cleo is a little different and it’s not an app, but a Facebook Messenger chatbot. Created by Barney Hussey-Yeo and Aleksandra Wozniak, Cleo analyses your weekly spending using AI and keeps you update with your outgoing transactions.
Cleo groups all your spending together based on categories, such as shopping, travel and eating out. She tells you interesting insights such as how much you spend on train tickets compared to other Cleo users and you can set a monthly budget too.
Recently, Cleo added an auto-savings feature, similar to Chip’s. This analyses your spending and saves money for you every week, to take the pain out of saving.
Free on Facebook
4. Savings Goals
Its great having an auto-save function, but Saving Goals goes that little bit further. The app helps you track how much you want to save for a specific event, whether that’s a holiday or a house deposit. Then, the app suggests a savings schedule and tracks your process.
It is very satisfying to see the little jar of coins build up within the app too.
Free, with in-app purchases, on iOS
5. Mint
Mint is the ultimate money-management app and with over 10m customers, it’s popular too. The app does everything you could possibly want it to: you can set budgets, track and pay your bills, have a free credit score and receive alerts when your bills are going out. This is particularly useful if you have irregular payments that it can hard to keep track of.
If you have depression or anxiety, mental health charity Mind offers guidance on what to do
