Web Spy: Mint.com

By Laura Dondero

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Facebook…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Foodily, Cramster and DropBox) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

Does this situation sound familiar to you? Your BFF asks you if want to go out to dinner with her, and you’re about to tell her yes, when you decide to check your bank statement quickly online before you answer — and discover you don’t have anywhere close to enough for a night out. You tell her thanks, but you have to skip it this time… then immediately start scanning job listings on Craigslist and rifling though your closet for things you can sell on Ebay to get some extra cash.

Even if you think you’re pretty careful with your spending, it’s easy to spend a lot more on infrequent and/or small purchases like that daily coffee, shopping the day you get your paycheck, or nights at the bar (even $1 pints can add up). If you don’t count every purchase and check your bank account on a regular basis, you’ll just end up in situations like the one described above over and over.

Mint makes keeping track of your finances easy, so you don’t find yourself selling back books you still need just so you can buy dinner. Mint pulls together all your financial information, including checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and loans, and organizes it for you all in one place. You can easily check your balance and so much more in just a few clicks.

Mint also helps you categorize your purchases so you can see where your money is going. You can also set up a budget to save money and track your progress. Mint shows you how much you can save if you cut back in certain spending categories. Mint even provides you with personalized recommendations for saving money and teaches you to spend smarter!

Your money and personal information is also safe with Mint — the website has high-level security to protect your information, and allows you to set up alerts for a low account balance, remind you to pay bills, and notify you of suspicious activity.

Mint also offers an app for smartphones so you can access it anywhere, and best of all, Mint is completely free to use! I’m going to start using Mint to help me curb frivolous spending and save for a vacation at the end of the year! How will you use it?

Want some more awesome sites (that won’t cost you a single dolla bill)? Check out the other sites that are on Laura’s web radar!