Carmen Mariah

So confession time: I’m not the best at budgeting my money. I’ve started using Mint.com to manage my funds… or lack there of. Basically, you input how much you want to spend each month on things like groceries, eating at restaurants, shopping for clothes, public transportation, etc. It then takes data directly from your online bank statements and organizes them within your pre-specified categories. Somehow it knows that my splurge at Forever 21 fits under the shopping category, and my check to my landlord goes under Mortgage/Rent. It’s absolutely genius. It will also send alerts (either emails or texts) if you’ve exceeded your allotted amount for a specific category. It’s set up to track funds on a month to month basis, and sends out alert emails every Friday. It can be set to more frequently, but I don’t need a reminder of my bank account status every waking moment of my life. I’m feeling really good about this decision. See- living on a budget can be fun!

So confession time: I’m not the best at budgeting my money. I’ve started using Mint.com to manage my funds… or lack there of.

Basically, you input how much you want to spend each month on things like groceries, eating at restaurants, shopping for clothes, public transportation, etc. It then takes data directly from your online bank statements and organizes them within your pre-specified categories. Somehow it knows that my splurge at Forever 21 fits under the shopping category, and my check to my landlord goes under Mortgage/Rent. It’s absolutely genius.

It will also send alerts (either emails or texts) if you’ve exceeded your allotted amount for a specific category. It’s set up to track funds on a month to month basis, and sends out alert emails every Friday. It can be set to more frequently, but I don’t need a reminder of my bank account status every waking moment of my life.

I’m feeling really good about this decision. See- living on a budget can be fun!