Mint.com... Anyone use it?

[Ladyw/theTramp]

I found the website Mint.com but I am a little confused on how it works...
Do any of you use it? What exactly does it help with? I'm leery of putting all my bank account info in there.

Thanks!

~Amy

 

[apennel]

I haven't used it personally, but I have three co-workers that use it and really like it.

It basically puts all of your financial information in one place, helps with budgeting, gives payment reminders and makes suggestions about financial topics. I'm sure it does other things too, but I don't know all of the details. None of them have mentioned concern over the privacy of the program, and one in particular is always very concerned about those issues.

I've thought about checking it out, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[tzolkin]

I have been using it for a few years and it works great for my family.

Basically it puts all your info together so you can see everything at a glance. You categorize transactions so you can track your income, spending, investments, and debt. There are also optional features that you can set up like budgets or goals. They fill in as you spend/save toward them, so it's a fun and easy visual.

It's really helpful for us because I have always done all the household finances. I still do, but this makes it easier for DH to be involved. He gets weekly email updates and if he wants to log-in on his ipod he can see all the details.

DH and I have similar financial personalities, but for some couples that I know where one is a spender it's a great tool. For example, my sister has different budgets set up for things like fast food, groceries, clothing, etc. Her DH can see "oops, I've already spent 75% of the fast food budget and it's only the first week of the month, I guess I'd better bring lunch for the next week". Because he can see it easily himself, she doesn't have to constantly be trying to keep track and add up their weekly/monthly spending.

 

[eliza61]

I just began using it after hearing about it here on the dis.
So far I'm liking it. It's taking me a while to get the hang of it.

 

[eliza61]

I just began using it after hearing about it here on the dis.
So far I'm liking it. It's taking me a while to get the hang of it.

I too was concerned about the privacy issue especially since it has a boatload of personal information in one place. It's still a small concern. I pm'ed a few dissers here who use it and they were reassuring.

 

[robsmom]

I have used for about 18 months. I love the graphs and the budgets. It has some features that work kind of funny and I have gradually figured out what works for me. I an not worried about the security issues because it is owned by Intuit which is a pretty big company. I like that you can carry budget over from one month to another. I have found the best way for me to use it is to set an annual budget by category and to divide by 12. I have the same budget each month regardless of when specific bills are due. I can see where I am over/under but know when it is ok and when it is not. It is ok to be over if the quarterly property tax is paid in January but not ok to be over on groceries that need to be purchased every month. You can set up bills for the future but I hate how this function works because it ends up double counts some expenses.

 

[ski_mom]

I use it and love how you can see everything at once. That part is very helpful.

I'm just learning how to set up budgets in it to track our spending that way. I basically split each of our paychecks up into spending categories - grocery, gas, cell phone bill, internet, etc.

I guess I'm struggling a bit with how to do a couple of things that I'd like to be able to do and just wondering if anyone has any ideas.

First, DH gets reimbursed for mileage every month from driving his truck at his job. I don't really "budget" the money because it is different every month, so I like to use it to pay for the gas he uses, $100 for auto insurance and then keep the rest set aside for when we have to replace a vehicle. I'm not sure how to set that up in the budgeting section or if there is a better way to handle that.

Second, I buy a lot of things for work on my visa card because the company doesn't like putting its credit card online. I don't mind at all because I get reimbursed and I also earn points on our card. Anyway, it always fluctuates also, so ideally I'd like it to be an in and an out. $1,000 charged cancelled out by $1,000 reimbursed. Is there a way to do that?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Golf4food]

Been using Mint for a couple of years and love it. A few quirks to work around, but by and large it is great. App for iPhone makes it easy to do a quick check while out on the run to see what I have left in a buget, etc.

 

[tzolkin]

I use it and love how you can see everything at once. That part is very helpful.

I'm just learning how to set up budgets in it to track our spending that way. I basically split each of our paychecks up into spending categories - grocery, gas, cell phone bill, internet, etc.

I guess I'm struggling a bit with how to do a couple of things that I'd like to be able to do and just wondering if anyone has any ideas.

First, DH gets reimbursed for mileage every month from driving his truck at his job. I don't really "budget" the money because it is different every month, so I like to use it to pay for the gas he uses, $100 for auto insurance and then keep the rest set aside for when we have to replace a vehicle. I'm not sure how to set that up in the budgeting section or if there is a better way to handle that.

Second, I buy a lot of things for work on my visa card because the company doesn't like putting its credit card online. I don't mind at all because I get reimbursed and I also earn points on our card. Anyway, it always fluctuates also, so ideally I'd like it to be an in and an out. $1,000 charged cancelled out by $1,000 reimbursed. Is there a way to do that?

Thanks for any help!

If you're placing the charges on your CC, each individual transaction will show up in mint. I would categorize them as something like "Business Expenses" and then when you get reimbursed also categorize those as "Business Expenses". If that's the only thing you use that category for, you will be able to see all the charges and reimbursements in one spot.

As for the car/mileage thing, I don't know that you can set that up as a budget. I never budget out specific income, I just set budgets for our household. I would probably just subtract to see what's left over after the auto expenses (gas & insurance) and put the remainder in an account to save for a future vehicle. I don't know how you can have mint do that automatically.

 

[robsmom]

If you're placing the charges on your CC, each individual transaction will show up in mint. I would categorize them as something like "Business Expenses" and then when you get reimbursed also categorize those as "Business Expenses". If that's the only thing you use that category for, you will be able to see all the charges and reimbursements in one spot.

As for the car/mileage thing, I don't know that you can set that up as a budget. I never budget out specific income, I just set budgets for our household. I would probably just subtract to see what's left over after the auto expenses (gas & insurance) and put the remainder in an account to save for a future vehicle. I don't know how you can have mint do that automatically.

This is basically what I do as well. I use an income category (but next year will use an expense one like you are doing) called reimbursement and then put the expenses to that (kind of negative income) so that i can see all the in/outs related to my husband's travel. Some months he is getting reimbursed for cash expenses as well as his amex bill. I split an atm withdraw and put part of the cash to the reimbursement category.