How I did it: I wanted to find an online resource that would help me manage my money. I did not have very many bill in responsibilities during college, so keeping track of my bill was fairly simple! Now that I have my own place and bills, I wanted to have a more comprehensive picture of my finances. After looking at various budgeting tools, I decided that Mint.com is the best! You create the budget through mint, which has a simple tutorial. Then mint actually catagorizes your spending, through your credit cards, checking, and other accounts and allows you to check how much your spending in each catagory of your budget. For example, you have a budget of $200 for groceries, when you spend $30 on groceries, mint updates your budget automatically stating that you spent $30 out of your $200 grocery budget. This all happens very close to real time! It gives you an amazing snap shot of all your expenses!

Lessons & tips: Don't pay for budgeting tools! There are plenty of free tools online!

Resources: www.mint.com

Jan 09, 2012, 04:34PM PST | 2 comments | 5 cheers