Money management software is not a simple choice.  Entering a number backwards or worse yet forgetting to enter spending create hours of work to find the issue.  Mint eliminates this issue with direct linking to your bank accounts and credit cards.

Go make more money and your problems will be solved.

This is the refrain that would play in my head after an exhausting excel spreadsheet  session. I hated the business of running the family like a  business.  I also hated not having any spending cash at the end of the month. The whole thought of family budgeting sent me running for my private chocolate stash!

Plus I often make mistakes entering numbers on the spreadsheet!

All the hard work to enter the numbers and then hours spent finding an accounting mistake.   Who has time? Short of hiring a bookkeeper what were my options?

Mint.com helped me to change that tortuous self-defeating mind set.

What gets measured get managed.- Peter Drucker

How do I say this? Most families live by the seat of their pants financially.  What about planning for a sick day or a sick day for a child or planning for a vacation?

Families are businesses that require financial management for their health and well being.

Mint.com takes the guesswork out of numbers. It actually loads the numbers for you from your Checking , Savings, and Credit Card accounts. No more exasperating excel spreadsheets where the user errors in entering numbers made me feel, well useless.  

Mint.com and other tools like it are free and take the guess work out of budgeting and managing your spending. Once accounts are loaded Mint.com goes back 90 days and categorizes your spending. You can manually change or add categories.

Now the magical part, Mint.com will create a budget based on your spending habits.

Whew! no entering numbers, averaging, or mental manipulation on your part just the cold hard facts. Now you can really see where your money is going!  In the Joyous Family this created a plan for regular giving and contributions to a retirement plan. Setting  it up automatic drafts  for these budgeted items electronically meant that it got done every month without hassle.   Letting Mint.com do the heavy lifting when it came to entering all the data also freed up time.  

Three tips to make MINT.COM Work for You

1) Separate business and personal, i.e I created two accounts with two separate logins, passwords and emails. Mint.com sends you alerts and weekly updates via email with graphs and pie charts which are really helpful.  “l love me some pie!”

2) Set up your accounts and bill pays electronically. This is a lot easier than you think.  Most banks will do the all the work for you.  I actually have my bank cutting the check, stamping it, and mailing- take that you big scary bank monster, now you work for me! Most banks offer online bill pay electronically or by check. Check out my blog specifically on that!

3) Do initial setup on the computer. Although this is a mobile app you can use anywhere any time, completing  the initial setup on the computer is easier. In less than an hour you will have your family business life in a neat categories  with future information drafting directly from your bank accounts, credit cards, and bill pay accounts.

Do You Really Want to Give give ALL Your Account Numbers to MINT.COM?  

 In the 3 years I have personally used Mint.com I have not experienced a breach with the system.  The account can be deleted by you at anytime anywhere with triple level safety already installed.  If you are using Mint.Com or another helpful family budgeter. Let us know in the comments below.

Mint.com may Not Be Your Money Management Style- Ten of the Best Budgeting Apps by my good friend, Traci over on pennypinchinmom.com