“Saving” Money Using Mint.com

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!! How much money am I going to spend today on margaritas? It’s no secret that drinking is expensive. And living in NYC, there are so many other things that cost money. You’re always either paying with time or money, and since no one ever has any time, the question is always how to save money. Recently, I started using mint.com, and I have not been more addicted to a website since I discovered Facebook. I have the app and I sign on twice a day. It’s that serious.

Here’s how you use mint:

1. First, you import all of your accounts. So easy having everything in one place!
2. Then you create settings so they email you every time a large purchase is made. What an awesome idea! You can keep an eye on your credit card security!
3. Then, you go through every single transaction you made and you create categories. The OCD in me LOVES this step. Carefully put each expense in a category. Such a sense of satisfaction when everything is labeled!

Things are fabulous! Ease of use, fraud alerts, categories, color coding, SO FUN!

And it IS all fun and games until you realize that it’s your actual money and that your “net worth” (which is the largest number on the screen, front and center) is approximately $-100K in the hole. Not so fun anymore. Quick reminder here again not to go to law school. Cue self-hatred and regret.

My dad and boyfriend tried to get me to use mint for YEARS and I never did it. After all, what’s the point of staring at my debt every day? If I wanted someone to rub it in, fedloan servicing already does a pretty good job of it with those monthly emails showing my remaining penance to the government. I got a wake-up call last year when my dad asked me about my savings account and I laughed. Literally lol-ed. Like, loud, and for way too long. Apparently this is not the correct response. And then when I had to pay $120 in state taxes this year, my dad was legitimately worried for me and asked if I had to put that on a payment plan and I decided I should probably get my sh*t together. I’m almost 30, after all. So I took the plunge and signed up for mint.com.

Now that I have spent hours categorizing and sub-categorizing (it’s not just “dining,” it’s coffee shops, lunch, dining socially, fast food etc.), I feel obligated to use it. Mint is going to help me save money, I am determined. The website creates a monthly budget for you, and it shows you, in real time, what percentage of your budget you have used for the month in each category and what you have left. Example, my budget for coffee shops is $10/month, and I have used zero (pats self on the back). One problem with this is that at the end of the month, you can see how much money you have left in each budget category. Maybe this doesn’t seem like a problem to you. A smart person would say “wow, $100 left in my shopping budget, this is great! I can put this into savings.” Last week on April 30th, I found myself in a similar situation. Awesome! Unfortunately, my internal monologue went more like this, “wow, $100 left in my shopping budget, this is great! *w w w dot lululemon dot com*.”

Another problem here is that you can edit your own budgets, which means you can “work the system.” Have you ever created a checklist of to-do items, and you specifically put items on there just so you have the satisfaction of checking them off? Same concept. I made a line item on my budget for coffee shops specifically because I know I prefer to make my coffee at home. BINGO! I’m under budget. I also specifically kept the preset category on there for “gas and fuel” because I don’t own a car. $0/$40 used! #WINNING. I feel like it evens itself out because some of these categories set you up to fail. How do they allot $10 to “Movies and DVDs?” A movie ticket costs $17! And everyone knows you can’t go to a movie without popcorn… but I guess I could categorize that as “fast food,” I am under budget in that category…

Round and round I go, trying to trick the system, when ultimately the system is just my money, I still have the same net worth aka NEGATIVE DOLLARS. Moral of the story, mint.com has not saved me any money yet, but I’ll keep you posted. Don’t tell my dad. Have any of you guys had any luck with it?