Mint.com

[BeachFun]

I was thinking about enrolling in Mint.com to track my spending in my bank accounts and was wondering if anyone has tried it. How do you like it? Any problems? Does it help?

[Nishu]

I've used it for about 10 months now. It's really, really nice. It uploads all your transactions and your balances. On most transactions it knows what you spend on and it categorizes them automatically, but some transactions you have to manually select the category. If you go to walmart and spend 50 on groceries and 20 on gifts, you can split that transaction to reflect the right amounts. That's about it as far as work.

It keeps track of what you spend in each category each month and you can get that information in monthly pie charts that show you how much you spend in each category, or you can get it in a bar graph that will show you, say, what you spent on groceries each month all year. You can also get a nice chart of your net worth and how it changes over time.

It's a read only program, so even if someone hacks it all they can do is look at your info. They can't get to your money. I've never had a problem with security and I've never heard of anyone having a problem with security. The only two problem that I can think of is that sometimes it's not compatible with certain banks.

One thing I was thinking of today as I read the envelope system thread is that I don't like how cash disappears with no record. Ideally I would always keep track, but I won't and I never have. On the other hand, even if I go for weeks without keeping track of my money, all the information is on mint when I want to go back and look. It's easy to forget if you're not keeping track how much you spend on fast food or groceries, but if I need a to shock myself into action after a lazy spell I can always go back and have a good cringe.

They're doing a drop your debt challenge right now.
Drop Your Debt to Win | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice

[frugal is fun]

I signed up with Mint in the Spring and quite honestly I don't really use it much at all. It is good because it does show all of your transactions but like Nishu said if you use cash there is no record.

If you want all of your "stuff" in one place, Mint is good for that.

I haven't had any problems so far.

[mndtrp]

I use it, and quite like the program. I use my credit card for everything, and am able to link up all of my different accounts. It's nice to see a running tally of what goes where.

My wife can't get her Credit Union to link up, though, and she's the one who really needs the budgeting software.

[melodys]

I tried it for a while, but got frustrated because I could not enter pending activity on my checking account. I wound up using Quicken and find that suits my needs much better. But many people do like Mint, so it is worth trying out.