You may or may not remember, but back in January, I wrote some “resolutions” for the New Year.  One of those resolutions was to start budgeting my money.

This is one that I have really been focusing on this year, and it’s been paying off!  [Pun intended].

I have never been a huge spender.  I’m more of the type person that makes lots of little purchases.  You know, a trip to the mall or a store and only spend $10-$30 here and there.  What do ya know?! That money adds up.

I tried keeping track of my spending in the Notes app on my phone, but that plan went out the door after a week.  I needed a new plan.

In order to stay organized with my budgeting, I enlisted the help of a free app called Mint. 

[Source]

Mint has a lot of cool features including:

• it links directly to all of my bank accounts
• allows me to create and set budgets
• write in cash expenses
• I can adjust the budgets to fit my personal needs, or even create whole new budget categories
• create a spending plan and learn ways to stick to it
• see my spending history over the last few months
• see my income history
• see my net income history
• graphs my spending in a pie graph and shows me where my money is going
• The app is safe and secure
• Each week I receive a weekly financial summary
• lastly- it provides financial advice (like how to create a retirement account!) and helps point you to the right resources to accomplish financial goals[This is NOT my account.  Source]

When I decided I wanted to start budgeting my money, I really just wanted to be more mindful of my spending, but it’s been awesome for so many other reasons.  I always wondered, where does my paycheck go?!?!”  No sooner did I bring home a paycheck and then it was just…gone!

First off, let me just say that all of those little $10-30 purchases were adding up!  I never realized how much I was spending on little things I didn’t need, just wanted, because they’re not that expensive.  They’re not that expensive if you only do it a couple times a month, but a few times a week and it was really breaking the bank.

Knowing that all of my purchases will be tracked in one place has made me so much more aware of my spending.  It really makes me double (and triple) think whether or not I really need that shirt from the mall.  Saving money on things that I don’t need has left a lot of money for things that are more fun, more important, and mean more to me!  Russ and I have been on some really fun dates (more to come about dating on a budget!), I’ve gotten to try some new-to-me foods, and I am saving some money for a trip this summer.

Using Mint, I managed to spend less than a quarter of what I had been spending in previous months.  Of course, some months I will spend more, and some months I will spend less, but seeing where it all goes is so incredibly helpful.

If you are interested in reading more, here is their website, or download it to your phone.

*All images are from the mint website, unless otherwise noted.

**I do not work for or work with Mint, I am simply telling you all about a great app!