Have you tried Mint.com yet?

If you file your taxes with Turbo Tax,  you've probably noticed the FREE service offered at the end of doing your taxes called Mint.com.  After filing last year's taxes, I was intrigued, as I'm always looking for easier ways to manage my household and looking for purposeful ways to budget & save, so I tried it out.

Mint.com is free, as advertised, and while it does take a good little chunk of time on the front end to enter all your account information, budget, and financial goals, I have to say that I think it is worth it.  Mint.com is linked to all of my accounts (credit cards, bank accounts, mortgage, etc.), and so it tracks all my spending, and my saving.  I also entered in the dates that I have bills due, so it emails me reminders each month reminding me to pay my bills before they're due!  Mint.com keeps me aware of my spending, tracking expenses in each of my budget category (it pulls the info directly from my credit card and checks!).  And, if I have any "large" transactions (large is defined/set by each individual), it emails me to give me a heads up to make sure everything is legit.

If you haven't tried it already, check it out.  Make sure you sit down with all your account info on all your accounts before you start.  If you keep up on this throughout the year (I haven't kept up on it as well as I'd hoped, but I'm thankful for even the bit I have!), I think you'll be glad you did.