Mint works because you give it access to all of your financial accounts. That's a little scary, I know, but here's what it does a lot for me in return. I'm notified whenever there's a charge I consider "large" (which I've set as $500). I'm notified when I'm charged interest fees. I can see all of my credit card or debit charges in one list, and see when bills are coming due. I track all my spending, because it automatically collects all the charged amounts, and I've trained myself to manually add in my few cash purchases as soon as I make them, on my phone app. I can see my total net worth, and I can see my spending in various categories over time.
Because I review purchases weekly in Mint, before I have a chance to forget what they are, I've saved tons of money. Here are the mistakes I've caught in the last six months:
- I was double-charged for a hotel room.
- A newspaper subscription was automatically renewed, when I wanted it canceled.
- I was inexplicably charged interest fees, although I paid off my bill in full.
- I was triple-charged for a purchase, over the period of a few months.
There may be other apps or software programs that work as well as Mint, so I guess my real message is: tracking your spending can really pay off.
3 comments:
sounds great! I don't imagine it will work with my non-US cards
I've never heard of Mint - but reading of your experiences it's scary to think that you could lose so much money when the firms you are dealing with make 'mistakes' or take renewals for granted - and I do a lot of my finances online so I shall have to be wary.
That sounds very helpful. I have an app called Wife which performs much of these same functions. It can't be put on a device however, and as a free standing unit runs on high quality alcohol.
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