Within the past six months, I have completely taken over the fiscal duties from the beau. In this time, I am happy to announce, spending has gone up and the deficit has come down (pause for applause). With 100% household employment (amongst the humans, at least), we’re lucky to be comfortable and even in this tough economy, we have not had to make too many sacrifices. BUT, in order to make sure of this, getting in complete control of our money has been crucial and it has definitely taken some time and some work.
First off, we have automated all of our payments via our online bank account, and synched them with our bimonthly paydays. Certain payments, like car insurance, do not need to be made every month, but in order to make sure it’s in our budget and we’re not faced with a huge payment every few months, I set up an automatic monthly transfer to savings, so I always know I’ll have the money when I need it. By really looking at what goes out every month, we’ve become much more aware of what we have left over and what other regular expenditures we have that we need to mentally budget for, like hair appointments, groceries, gas, and nights out. Understanding what we have, what we need, and what’s coming in, has also made it easier to save and invest, another thing we’ve automated on a monthly basis.
And then there are credit cards. I don’t like waiting for the statements—I want to know what’s on there at all times. At first, logging into all the different accounts to check balances on a biweekly basis was driving me crazy. I had a notebook full of numbers of projections and scribbles. Then I discovered Mint.com.
Mint.com is a website that allows you to look at all your accounts and account balances in one place. I set up an account, and by providing my online log-in info for each one, added the bank accounts, credit cards, IRA, 401k, car loan, student loans, and the like. Now I only have to log into one site to see exactly what I have and what I owe on any given day. It’s a great snapshot of our finances and helps ease my mind.
I recommended Mint to a couple of friends and they did ask me about security. From what I know, Mint only allows you to see your money, not access it, so it should be secure. However, don’t take my word for it, here’s a statement from the company.
Mint also allows you to set budgets and enter the values of assets, like art and jewelry, but I haven’t gone that far yet. Have you? Please let us know how it’s been working for you.
Anyway, money management isn’t something that comes naturally to me, but I’m working at it. And Mint’s been a big help in that.
