[Slim CB]

I just use good old pen and paper. I carry a little notebook in my handbag. As soon as I spend anything I write it down.

[berryblondeboys]

Pen and paper don't work for me. People steal my pens and or paper, of they get lost or I end up stealing the paper for something else. The phone is the only reliable thing for me - that I can also access online would be great.

[Slim CB]

Berry, I am sure there is phone app for this..hopefully someone can give us an answer on this.

[Esofia]

Spreadsheet app for the phone?

[sotypical]

I am using the mint.com website as well. I did a lot of searching before adding my finical information and everything I read said the site was safe. I figure it is just as safe as my online banking site so I went for it and I am happy that I did. I have set myself budgets and usually do pretty well staying in them.

The site is usually a couple days behind but it's not too bad. It does email you when you go over a budget. This is good and bad, it seems to email you multiple times because sometimes you go over in a few areas because of one purchase. For example, this month I got reminded 5 different times that I spent $1200 more then normal on my pet. I found it is a bit of a kick in the face every time I got the email. lol

There are phone apps for it as well - and you can enter cash spending in it as you feel - perhaps you can use it WITHOUT entering your finical information? I haven't tried it. But I can't see why not?

I have tried manually writing down my purchases in the past and I stick to it for a couple days and give in. This is all done for me, tracking my band card and credit card and categorizing all my purchases.

Another downfall is categorizing stores like Costco. Some of your bill might be groceries and some might be house hold items - sometimes I wish I could split my purchases into two categories or something. But overall it is good.

[nina125]

I have been using Mint for about 2.5 years now and I have had no problem with lost/stolen information yet. I have the app on my phone, but it is password protected. So I am not very worried that my info may fall in the wrong hands if my phone is stolen.

It made more sense to us to use Mint because my husband had 4 credit cards, and I had 3, plus student loans each, and car loans each before we got married. We decided to mingle our finances once we got married, and it just became too cumbersome for us to keep track of so many accounts at the same time. With Mint, it just made it easier for us to streamline our finances and keep track of our budget & goals.

[berryblondeboys]

Just got the free Spending Lite app. I'll see how that works.

[XLMuffnTop]

I have started using Mint as well and am really happy with it. I was using a spreadsheet but it became cumbersome to track unexpected and spur of the moment expenses so I always ended up adding "adjustment" expenses to get back on track which made it really hard to track where all my money was going. Like others have said, this makes everything readily available to my husband as well without having to long into a ton of different banks for credit card, car loan, mortgage and student loan info.

I don't think you HAVE to enter financial information on Mint though it does make it easier. You can add transactions manually on the online version and I think you can on the mobile app though I haven't tried it.

Mint is backed by Intuit and uses pretty much the same security as the bank (I researched!). In addition, I have a credit block placed so no one can take out credit in my name without me first being contacted and regularly monitor my credit history.

The main thing is to find something that works for you. If you don't use it, it sure won't help. (Me and Quicken! Oh jeez.)