Hint hint...it's Mint!

Have you heard of mint.com? Trying to save for a wedding has really opened my eyes to my money situation. I've managed to skate by every month, but sometimes barely, so trying to save a certain amount of money in a set amount of time has posed a major challenge, and it was a big wake up call.

For a long time the Giraffe has been suggesting we set a budget, or at least get a better idea of where our money goes. I'm pretty frugal, but I'm not good at sticking to a budget. Life is too messy and unpredictable for that. But it did make sense to get a better idea of how I spend my money.

Enter my friend Robin (of recent weddinghood), who told me about mint.com. It connects to all your loans, accounts, credit cards, etc. and keeps track of your spending, your savings and your financial goals.

When you get started, you tell mint where your stuff is (accounts, loans, all that), it connects to that site, asks for your login/account info, and pulls in all your information. Once all your stuff is gathered, you can set up a budget and financial goals.

Then there's all kinds of fun graphs and charts and stuff that help you visual your spending. So when you charge $10 at McDonald's, mint.com recognizes that you just spent $10 in the "Fast Food" category. And you can change the categories as needed. If you spend $50 at Target, mint might categorize that under "Personal Care" but you know you actually bought a gift for a friend's wedding shower, so you change it to "Gifts" next time you log in.

You can also set goals. Like, say, for instance you want to save $2,000 for a wedding by June. Tell mint and it'll help you figure out how and keep track of how well you're doing. I haven't figured out if you can merge two accounts though. Since the Giraffe and I are saving for the wedding together, it'd be nice to look at all of our accounts and savings as a whole. Anyone know if it's possible?

If you want a better picture of your financial situation, you should check it out. It's all free, the website is easy to use and pretty to look at, and I think it's pretty safe and secure.

[I'm not getting paid in any way to promote this site, I just thought it might be useful to others.]

[Also posted at Shan & Mike.]

Comments

[Lindsay]

Seth got me using Mint a while ago, but I never really kept up with it. Hopefully you'll do better than I did. And don't forget to check out SmartyPig.com -- it's goal-oriented and has graphs, too, but it gives you interest!!

[Robin]

Yay! I'm excited you decided to try it.

[Danielle@Newlyweds Paradise]

What a fab idea! Thanks for posting this!

[doahleigh – Holy Waste o]

[...] I’ve been using mint.com, I’ve been carefully monitoring my transactions, and today I noticed several charges of 14.95 [...]