Skrilla

I use livestrong.com for my food and fitness journaling. I use Bloglovin.com to keep track of my blogger girls. I use grocerylistmaker.com to make friggin GROCERY lists. Of course I have a website to keep track of my dolla dolla bills, y'all.

So heres ya go. This is how I spent my money last year #mint

When I look at it, I think... yup. That's about how I spent my money in 2012. I guess that's to be expected since I monitor it all the time with Mint.com. Although I think this is skewed due to paying for things with my credit card and then paying my credit card off every month (Hellooooooooo rewards points! I got my rewards card (Chase Freedom FTW) in June 2011 and I've earned close to $800 in rewards. I have no idea if that's above average but it's free money, yo! It seems awesome! It's better than I make on my CDs!) 

Things this pie chart tells me:

• Shop less
• Eat out less
• Travel more
• Give more to charity
• I can afford to make bigger payments on my car if I'm spending that much on shopping

I would actually consider "obsessing over every single transaction I make" one of my hobbies. (I'd bet that "obsessing over" begins the title of all of my hobbies if I really thought about it). I would say "managing my finances" is a hobby but that would be misleading. All the managing I do is setting up a budget, trying to stick with it... save as much as I can. I don't move stuff around a lot to optimize interest rates and my investments are pretty elementary. 2 CDs and a high yield savings account. Nothing crazy (or especially profitable). But I'm doing research and trying to learn. I want "finances" to be a hobby instead of just gawking at how much we spent at Target last year. A lot. 

It's an actual pie slice. "Target". "Body" is actually the category for my laser hair removal! #noshame

Mint is really, really powerful but D won't use it because it isn't FDIC insured. I mean, it's something to consider before hopping on board. (interesting article warning you not to use Mint). However, I read this article... and I understand the risks... and I still use it. I don't know what that says about me. I hate money and I hope someone steals all of mine?

What I love most about Mint:

• Really easy to edit "categories" so, like, say you're Christmas shopping for gifts and it's tallying those purchases in "shopping" which is not fair. One click changes those purchases to "gifts" and you're able to keep track of everything just so neat and tidy
• The guilt texts. "You have spent $89 on fast food this month... that is over your budget" You can deactivate if you don't like guilt but I find guilt to be one of the only emotions that evokes action from me.
• One place to look at all my accounts instead of having to traipse all over cyberspace every day.
• It reminds you when your automatic draft bills are going to be pulled from your account so it doesn't sneak up on you and cause an overdraft.

I also just started using creditsesame.com to track my credit score. No credit card info required... gives you an actual score from the Experian report. I think it's cool... it seems cool... 

Lastly, on the money theme, my favorite money-centric song.  If you watch all the way to the end... do British people keep their wallets in their shirt pockets or inside their suit jackets or something? #confusing