Mornings are usually our time to read the paper blogs to stay on top of the news. Lately though, we've been skipping over certain news stories (anything with "Octo-Mom" or "Lohan" in the title), and we have to admit...We're kinda, sorta...tired about reading about how crap the economy is. What we do like reading about are success stories of people who are stretching their budgets during this tough time. After all, if there's going to be a silver lining to this global financial crisis, shouldn't it be how we're all learning to save money and budget wisely? Since tax time is right around the corner, we've recently discovered this online service called Mint that helps monitor personal finances, track investments, and offer ways to save and get out of debt. And did we mention that it's free?
Manage Your Money: Mint.com
Free Bookkeepping Service
Our favorite features:
- Mint's online budgeting tools is geared towards giving you as much info as possible to create realistic goals for yourself, especially when it comes to cutting back on expenses. For example: A few years back, we used to frequent the local coffee shop in the mornings on a regular basis...like 3-4 times a week (if not more). When we finally sat down to calculate how much we were spending on something as mundane as coffee, we realized that we were blowing around $60 per month to keep ourselves caffeinated when it would have cost about $12 to pick up coffee beans at the grocery store. Yearly savings: around $500.
- If you're a frequent user of the debit card, things can get a little hectic when it comes to bookkeeping. Mint connects directly to your bank, credit card, and even investment accounts and is updated automatically. You can actually see what your average spending is per category.
- When it comes to staying on track, sometimes a reminder is all you need. We're notoriously bad about sticking to our goals without some kind of help (just ask our workout partner, sigh). Another great feature about Mint is that if you do set up your budget, like "I will only spend $100 a month on eating out," and you happen to be naughty and exceed it, Mint will send you an email (or text message if you have the Mint app downloaded to your iPhone) to yell at you. OK, well, maybe not "yell" as much as it's a polite reminder that you overindulged somewhere.
- And finally: Got student loans, a car payment, a few credit cards, a mortgage...any of those? Do you know the interest rate on all of them? Mint will show you exactly how much you've borrowed in addition to the interest rate and balance on all of your outstanding debts...just so you can compare and pay off the most expensive loans first. Also, the program will notify you when fees and finance charges are being automatically taken out of your account by a bank of brokerage firm...Random factoid: An average American pays more than $250 in these "hidden fees" each year.
Check out all the features at Mint.com...!
Comments (16)
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I really want to use mint.com but I still use my hometowns credit union (my mom works there so its convenient even though its so far away). Unfortunately its too small and they have too many security features that as of right now mint hasn't added it as one of the banks they can access :(
I've heard a bunch of good things about this site though and a few bad from when they just were put online (seems like most of the bugs/complaints got fixed).
view girlonthem00n's profile
I just signed up for Mint a few weeks ago and LOVE it so far. They're still working on the site though, so you may have some trouble linking a few accounts to their system. I didn't have a problem with any of my credit cards, but I'm still having issues linking my student loan account. The bill payment reminders and the "uh oh, you're running out of money in your checking account" reminders are nice!
view UWSretreat's profile
I like mint and used it for about 6 months, but they didn't support my bank so I switched to Quicken Online and I'm very happy with it.
One word of caution - if you close an account, all history related to that account DISAPPEARS from mint (or did when I was still using it). I lost about 4 months worth of CC history when one of my cards was canceled due to theft, and this screwed up my transaction history and pie charts on the site.
view michelle123's profile
My hubs & I have been using it for about ohh 4-6 months now.. And we both really love it.. Especially because its free! And it does all of the things we griped about that Quicken didn't do! I really recommend it because it helps make a budget really simply & ever since we sat down & budgeted it out, we are much much much better with money. Tho, I have to admit it stinks come week 3 or so of the month when I find some little 'have to have' on sale & that budget is there glaring me in the face...but I guess that's what its there for!
I really recommend Mint!
view neverxlookback's profile
Mint changed my life.
view EasilyAmused's profile
Tax time may be around the corner, but I don't see what that has to do with Mint (which I have been using for 4 months). I find Mint useful, but not particularly reliable or comprehensive. It's ok as long as it is free, but I wouldn't pay for a service that is buggy and unresponsive to customer requests.
view particlebored's profile
Like: automatic update of balances, display of interest rate information, graphics.
Dislike: No way to enter transactions manually, so it won't tell you if you've wrote a check for something already, or allow you to see future pinch points in your cash flow. t's especially annoying that I can't tell it that I've already scheduled a bill payment, so it reminds me that credit card bills are due even when I've already paid them. This is a dealbreaker for me, so I have to stick with the clunky desktop quicken.
view Silli's profile
I've been using Mint since July 07 and have found it to be a really great site. I always wonder if their business model actually works-- I've never been tempted to use any of the credit products advertised. I think about that because I would be so sad if mint wasn't there anymore!
view melanie8's profile
We love it. I use it in conjuction with a budget on Google docs that I use to keep track of each category. I like having that on my own because it's my categories, etc. I also love having Mint because it tracks EVERYTHING, even the transactions I don't remember (ez pay, auto stuff). There's so way for it not to undetected. And that's good news for this spendthrift.
view inkstainedwriter's profile
It annoys me that I can't enter cash transactions myself. It will record the money you withdrew from an account and you can split that up into your individual purchases, but if, say, I found $5 in the couch and bought a latte, I can't record that in Mint. Oh well, I still like it.
view chambrey's profile
I love mint.com. I've had it since November 2008 and it has been great for setting a budget since I can see all of my accounts in one place.
view medenver's profile
It's not available for Canadians? Boooo
view ShopgirlCA's profile
love it. very helpful for finding out the minimum I need to make per month, when job hunting. also, their iphone app is handy.
view erica's profile
any feedback from users about security? I considered using it but was too freaked out about having to enter all of my accounts information in one place.
view lovelyrita's profile
I've been using it for about a year and I LOVE it. I'm awful at budgeting/keeping track of finances, so it's just what I need. I check it at least once a day.
view keliz's profile
Mint.com might be the greatest thing since toasted bread, but the idea of "Hey free website, sure, you can have my bank login details" leaves me cold. A single disgruntled employee could easily erase any benefit from their service.
view transiit's profile