Mint anyone?

I just have to share this new discovery. Busy Hubby (BH) and myself are constantly looking for ways to create a household budget. Between recreational activity fees, school fundraisers and household expenses (not to mention gas and tolls for BH- creating a budget is a necessity. The first step in creating a budget is to track your spending, not as easy as it sounds. Well while reading the latest issue of Essence Mag, there was yet another article about budget how-to's, "5 Money Tools to Make Your Life Easier". The first tool was www.mint.com, a free money management program. So simple! All you do is create an account and enter your bank, debit and credit card information. The website provides you with an overview of your finances in one location. What makes this program so different is, it actually identifies and records what you are spending on groceries, gas, shopping, eating out, even atm fees! What I've learned is we spend too much money on atm fees, eating out (with all the after school activities, cooking is touch and go), and morning coffee runs.

I love this program!!!! You can also separate work and personal expenses and it keeps track of what credit you have available on your cards as well as if you go over your limit. I haven't had a chance to really play around with it as I'd like. I'm sure there are more benefits that I haven't mentioned.

Wire Transfer Update: Checked account, still no moola.