At any rate, getting back to money basics is hard work. Bills fill your mailbox. Receipts overflow on the counter. Then of course your daily (or not daily) conversations about money may/may not be pleasant.
One of our goals to help us be more frugal is to track our pennies (and dollars). We have learned to use Mint.com as our main resource to control our spending and curb our money habits. This web site features an online free service of financial record keeping.
The cool features on this site provide the ability to import all banking transactions and balances automatically in one secure place to set budgets, track spending, and set goals. In this economy, it helps to have a tool with which you can see your spending habits. Here you can literally track to see where every penny goes by trending graphs across months and automatic categorization of spending. My personal favorite is that you can split up receipts to accurately keep records for your budget. Also, you can set future goals for saving money like investing or saving for college. Mint.com helps guide you along your financial path.
We ourselves have information from all our banking accounts dumped into Mint.com. We then take our receipts and account them to the transactions recorded. From there we can electronically set up a monthly budget according to our personal needs and wants. Mint.com informs us through alerts to our smart phones if we are within budget or over budget. Since everything is electronic, information is easily accessible and transferable. And most important, we contain updated real time information regarding our assets, debts, and transactions.
Consider setting up an account with this free, secure service today. And watch where your pennies go.
For more frugal tips, visit Learning the Frugal Life.
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