Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Mint.com: How did I not know about this?

anyone who knows me well knows that i love payday specifically to pay bills. nothing gets me going like paying down my debt. seriously, i have an excel spreadsheet that outlines my debt, notebooks where i write down everything.. it's like an obsession. i just love knowing how much money i have and how much debt i owe..and then watching the $$ go down (on the debt side!!! not in my account!)

there was a really great post on apartment therapy today How To: Get Real About Needless Spending. well, a few individuals commented on mint.com to track one's spending.. i immediately went to check it out. from the mint.com about page you can find out more about this FREE site that uploads your accounts from checking and savings to credit cards and investments; it tracks your spending and let's you know where one's money is going (categories like utilities, food, gas, shopping, etc.). it even shows your spending habits compare with the average american, compares this months with previous months...i could go on and on about the cool features that this site offers.

it's like the shameless grandmother that points her witchy-poo finger in your face and says, "you spent HOW MUCH on that?" yeah. it's shaming, but it's a huge wake up call to me and where exactly all my money is going. i think this tool is really going to maximize my awareness and i'm really exciting about using it on a daily basis.

the only problem i found thus far is that it said i had a $50/month grocery budget and a $20/month gas budget. really? $20/month for gas?! i can't even fill up my tiny honda civic for that...granted i don't use a lot of gas and fill up about once every two weeks but $20/month? really? i need to find out where they come up with the numbers on that one.

anyway, please, if you're like me and am money obsessed or even just want to track your habits, check it out and sign up. :)

1 comment:

coalingakid said...

Hi there,
Great post, thanks for the kind words. On the budget estimate for gas...we based these estimates off of your data. We make an attempt to make sure we have enough historical transactions to make the estimate....a known issues is that if you spend some on gas in one account, and more on another account that has not been added to mint, we will get it wrong. The good news is that it will update as soon as you add all your accounts.

Hope you continue to enjoy the product.

Aaron Forth
VP of Product, Mint.com