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Raise your hand if you like working with your checkbook. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
If you’re still using a paper checkbook, you are missing out on about 8 billion benefits to going the “digital” route, so to speak. But the most important one is this: no more math slip-ups. I used to work at a bank, and I can’t tell you how many times I had to spend 45 minutes going through someone’s paper checkbook only to find that they forgot to carry a one or just completely forgot how to do basic math. It’s mind-boggling.
And it happens to everybody. I know it did for me quite frequently. Think about it: you’re in a rush, you quickly jot down the price of something and subtract it out. It’s easy to miss something when you’re running out the door. Or even better, you do the great trick of writing in the amount so you’ll do the math later, right? What’s that? You have a calculator? Great! But guess what? All it takes is one missed button and you’re screwed!
Besides the automatic adding and subtracting, going digital also gives you a much neater checkbook to work with (for those of us with supremely awful handwriting – yup, I got a “C” in penmanship in the 7th grade!), and you can also group your transactions and analyze your spending and saving much better, what with graphs and charts and all that fun stuff. Keeping a budget is easier because you can punch in your benchmarks and see the progress as it’s happening!
“But wait!” you scream, even though I can’t hear you. “I don’t want to spend $100 on Microsoft Money or the latest version of Quicken!” Me neither. So we need to build a system that can handle our finances online. Here is what I needed my system to do:
So, after much thought and testing, here’s what I deem to be the best and safest money management system. It’s nearly foolproof, and you can relax knowing your money is being tracked safely. So here are the 7 easy steps you need to take to set yourself up!
If you have a Google account already, all you need to do is log in. If you don’t, sign up for one – it’s easy and it’s quick.
This is how the template looks right after you load it. Click on the title at the top and change it to the name of your account (“Checking Account”, “Mastercard Credit Card”, etc.). Then notice how the examples are laid out – you can fill in a category for each transaction, and use it just like a regular paper checkbook. The only difference is that the math is done for you already. Edit the top line of the register to match your current balance, and you can start entering in transactions immediately! It will automatically be saved.
Go to Mint and click on the “Sign Up” link at the top of the page, then follow the instructions to add your different accounts and it will pull in your information. Worried about security? First, Mint has been open and running since 2006 and there have been no complaints of any security breaches. On top of that, even if someone were to hack into your account, all they would be able to see is your transactions. You are not giving your account information (account numbers, etc.). You are only giving information to track expenses and deposits.
Setting up your accounts can take a little bit of time, especially initially as Mint pulls in your information.
When you log into Mint, you will see an overview of your finances. Here you can see how much money has cleared your accounts, a quick look at your budget (which you can edit to fit your needs) and how far along you are in meeting that budget (below). You can also look at your transactions and edit how an expense is categorized, if you would like.
Click on the “Trends” tab, and you will see different ways you can look at how your money is being spent:
As you can see, you can change the timeline to see different reporting, if you would like.
Above: you can even compare your shopping to trends in your local area.
Mint also has a “Ways To Save” tab. This is what keeps Mint a free service. Here, Mint analyzes your spending and recommends different accounts and credit cards that would be better for you – maybe a credit card with a rewards program or a savings account with a higher interest rate, for example.
Mint also has email alerts, which automatically let you know when your credit card payments are due, or if your balances are starting to get low. You can set them up however you would like. Very handy!
Glad you asked! Google Docs and Mint are both hosted on their own servers and not on your computer. In layman’s terms, this means you can access them from anywhere with an internet connection. If you have a laptop, you can take these things wherever you want. At a hotel? Hop down to the public computer in the lobby and enter in your expenses from the day. It’s that simple.
No internet connection for the week? If you have a laptop, you can download your Google Docs checkbook as a spreadsheet and keep entering in transactions offline. Then you can upload the document back into your Google Docs account when you get home. You won’t get your reports and graphs until you get an internet connection, but if you’re on vacation, you’ve got better things to do than sit in your hotel room and look at your spending!
If you don’t like Mint, there are several other services like it that are just as free and have their own unique features, such as Thrive and Wesabe. Choose the one that’s right for you.
What do you think? Do you have your own money management system that you prefer over this one? Share it with us in the comments!
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Personal finance site Christian Personal Finance (the home to my very first guest post – thanks again, Bob!) is celebrating two years of providing great advice on the web! Happy birthday, ChristianPF!
In honor of their birthday, they are giving away both a Nintendo Wii and an iPod! If you are a fellow blogger, you can post about the contest and get yourself a Nintendo Wii. If you are a Twitterer like myself, you can tweet about the contest and be in the running for the iPod! While you are there checking out the contest, click around a little bit and enjoy the great content.
Happy birthday, guys! Keep up the good work!
Credit cards. Student loans. Car payments. Mortgages. Interest rates. Investments. We adults sure know how to complicate things, don’t we?
Personal finance blog Christian Personal Finance recently put a post on lessons learned in the first grade that still apply to us today. While it focuses on money, it also speaks to our attitude towards money:
2. It doesn’t matter what other kids are doing I still remember hearing, “if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow them?” in response to my longing to do what my friends were doing. It seems that as adults we play into that crowd-think much like kids. This Keeping Up with the Joneses video illustrates the point so well. At times I have found myself so guilty of seeking to impress others, but it seems that the path that yields the best results is the one less traveled!
I still remember hearing, “if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow them?” in response to my longing to do what my friends were doing. It seems that as adults we play into that crowd-think much like kids. This Keeping Up with the Joneses video illustrates the point so well. At times I have found myself so guilty of seeking to impress others, but it seems that the path that yields the best results is the one less traveled!
The post has links to other posts and videos, and is a very simple, smart piece. Check it out!
I’ve recently talked about the idea that government bailouts aren’t teaching us to be responsible, but there is a new article up at Five Cent Nickel that asks, "Is Personal Responsibility Dead?":
Unless you’ve been lost at sea for the better part of seven years, you’re likely aware of the economic problems that have pushed us “against the financial ropes,” both individually and as a nation. As ridiculous as it sounds, these problems stem from Ricki Lake and Richard Simmons as much as they stem from Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush. No, we’re not in this predicament because we haven’t been “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” Nor are we here solely due to 9/11, Republicans, Democrats, or other bureaucrats. We’re here because, on a whole, we’ve become a nation that rebels against virtue and character, and chooses instead to value the emptiness of fame and fortune.
Unless you’ve been lost at sea for the better part of seven years, you’re likely aware of the economic problems that have pushed us “against the financial ropes,” both individually and as a nation. As ridiculous as it sounds, these problems stem from Ricki Lake and Richard Simmons as much as they stem from Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush.
No, we’re not in this predicament because we haven’t been “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” Nor are we here solely due to 9/11, Republicans, Democrats, or other bureaucrats. We’re here because, on a whole, we’ve become a nation that rebels against virtue and character, and chooses instead to value the emptiness of fame and fortune.
In a word: yes. Our country was built on the simple premise that one worked hard and took responsibility for their actions. We sure aren’t living in THAT world anymore. Our culture today wants to be rich, famous, loved, and have all the time in the world to have fun. But the reality is, a person of good character will have to work to provide for themselves and their families, and will have to stand up for their values in the face of ridicule on occasion.
Just because it’s fun doesn’t mean it’s right. Just because you think it makes you happy doesn’t mean it’s good for you. And just because it may be unpleasant now doesn’t mean it won’t pay off in the long run. Let’s get back to rolling up our sleeves and getting ourselves dirty. Let’s put down that fifth beer and start acting like adults. That means treating each other with respect, caring about your fellow man, and standing up for your morals.
Otherwise, we continue this wonderful downward spiral that we keep hoping the government will pull us out of. It’s your call.
Twitter is annoying. There, I said it.
I’m not going to pretend that all the benefits of using Twitter are really apparent to everyone. From the outside, it looks like an incredible time-waster, and completely useless to everyone. Just another stupid Internet fad.
But to those of us who have gotten familiar with Twitter, we see its power and potential. Not only that, there’s an entertainment value to Twitter as well. I started out hating Twitter. I never saw the use, and I swore I would never use it. Then, as I started to build a buzz for this site, I needed an outlet to start promoting it. I started a Twitter account just so I could connect with other bloggers and build relationships. It’s certainly done that, but now it has done so much more. I have a desktop Twitter client (I use blu, which is incredibly slick), I have it on my Windows Mobile phone, and I check it religiously. Friends roll their eyes at me when I mention it. My girlfriend yells, “YOU’RE SO ADDICTED!” whenever I check it at home. But Twitter has value for everyone, just in different ways.
The power of Twitter can be boiled down to a few main points.
Okay, but isn’t Twitter just used to swap useless information? People only see or hear about Twitter through the media, which mainly makes people think that it’s a bunch of overweight computer geeks who are letting other overweight computer geeks know that their moms made them egg salad for lunch today. But there are plenty of – dare I say it – useful ways that even the average person can make use of Twitter. And you don’t have to be an aspiring blogger looking to make connections with other bloggers, either.
The only thing you need a Twitter account for is following people. If you want to try out Twitter’s other features or read up on someone’s Twitter page, go for it. In fact, you can go to my Twitter page right now and read up on what I’m tweeting about, without having to log in. That’s great because then you can make yourself feel less pathetic in your head by convincing yourself that you’re not actually using Twitter.
One of the most powerful ways one can use Twitter is by using Twitter Search, which looks through all the tweets and brings up what people are saying. Still wondering if people are talking about Chuck Norris? Just do a Twitter Search for it and read people’s still-kinda-funny comments on him, all updated in real-time. You can even look in the sidebar to see what topics people are talking about most. It’s an interesting social study. And some of those Chuck Norris jokes are still pretty funny.
News sources like CNN are posting news as it happens. Real-time updates can be incredibly useful. Stop waiting for the headlines to change on MSN.com or for the Early Edition to hit your front porch. Get news NOW.
Okay, so maybe you can use it to make some connections. The Twitter world is one of the friendliest worlds I know. Even top-notch bloggers who get millions of people to read their stuff can respond to you personally on Twitter, just because they can. And services like Mr. Tweet help you find those people that you might want to follow. Looking to network with other graphic designers? It’s there. Want to talk to other stay-at-home moms? Knock yourself out. You can make valuable, entertaining connections with people of similar interests every day on Twitter.
The Internet is larger than you and I will ever know. There are millions of sites. Millions. Some of them – okay, a lot of them – are completely useless. But some, like The Practical Nerd, are incredibly useful and relevant. One of the calling cards of Twitter is sharing valuable content. The people you follow will have links to really entertaining sites, or interesting and useful articles. For example, my fellow bloggers and I share links to articles about writing better content, marketing your blog, using Twitter to drive traffic to your blog, etc. If you want to connect with fellow MMA lovers, you could share links to interviews with the biggest fighters, or late-breaking news on a big fight coming up. Sometimes it might just be to a fun video. But if you are looking to broaden your horizons and learn more and get the most out of the Internet’s power and community, Twitter can help you do that.
Tim Siedell posts ridiculously dry humor to his Twitter account. At least two or three a day make me laugh out loud:
You may not know Paul Feig’s name, but you know what he does: he created Freaks and Geeks, he directed episodes of Arrested Development, among others, and he also wears a suit. He was Mr. Poole on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. And he tweets about bizarrely funny stuff, a lot:
And of course, my favorite, and a favorite for all you fans of The Office, the hilarious Rainn Wilson, who plays beet-lover Dwight Schrute:
Okay, so some might look at all this and say that Twitter is still a gigantic time waster. You know what I say to that? What do you call top ten lists on FOX Sports, late-breaking news on Lindsay Lohan’s lesbian relationship, or the latest “Which flavor of Doritos are you?” quiz on Facebook? Yup, they’re all time-wasters. We all waste time on our computers – stop acting like you don’t.
What are your thoughts on Twitter? I want to hear ‘em in the comments!
