Disclaimer: I’m not receiving any compensation for this post, nor was I asked to review the site by Mint.com. I started using the site a couple of weeks ago, and I feel that their website will benefit the readers of Money Crashers in a big way.

I’m lazy, and I’m cheap. There, I said it. This means that I don’t have Quicken or MSN Money to track my finances. I’ve been using excel spreadsheets and notebooks to track our spending and budgeting for the past couple of years. When I stumbled upon Mint and their personal finance application, I knew that I found something that would be very beneficial to me and the readers of Money Crashers. I had tried out several other personal finance application websites such as Wesabe.com, and my experience with it was horrible. I couldn’t even get my accounts to sync with the site. The process of adding my bank accounts was tumultuous, and I stopped using it after two days. Here is a comprehensive review of the Mint.com site. Give it a try, because they offer free accounts with no strings attached!

Interface

The interface is very clean, reliable, and flows well. It uses a tab design, with plenty of colorful charts and easy-to-find links and buttons. The predominant color is green, of course. But, I think that the color scheme of the application is very pleasing to the eyes, and it has a logical layout.

Adding Accounts

Like I said before, adding accounts with Wesabe.com was a nightmare. You had to install some kind of browser plug-in that forced you to sign into the bank website yourself and it recorded every one of your actions, then the plug-in repeated them to log into your account. It was very weird, and it did not seem as safe as the procedure for Mint.com . On Mint, you simply create an account that asks you a few questions and then you set up an email address and password. Then, you pick a bank account from their extensive list, and type in your username and password. This is all done while you are still at the Mint interface. It logs in, and downloads all of your transactions simply by making one click of the mouse. You’ll have to try it to see how easy it is.

Overview Tab

The overview tab has three groups of windows. The first window gives you a quick balance sheet, showing how much cash you have versus how much debt you have. Then, it gives you a quick net worth chart. This doesn’t include all of your liabilities and assets, but it shows you all of your most liquid accounts and where you stand. The window on the top right shows you the most recent activity like recent transactions, alerts for bills that need to be paid, and important budget information. The windwo on the bottom right shows you a nice bar graph for your budget. You can set up budget amounts for all budget categories and Mint will track your budget based on the transactions it finds in your bank account activity. How cool is that?

Transactions Tab

The Transactions Tab allows you to sort through all of your checking or credit account transactions and categorize anything that wasn’t already categorized by the application. Some stores like “Publix” or “Wal-mart” are already categorized into their appropriate spending category for you. You can sort the transactions by name, category, amount, or date.

Spending Trends Tab

This tab brings you to a more detailed breakdown of your spending habits. It shows you in a pie graph where your money is going and who it’s going to This is my favorite part of the application. It will track how much you’re spending at Target or Starbucks or any other merchant you frequent. Also, there is a bar graph that can show you how you measure up to average spenders in your state or major city. Currently, we spend much less than other people in Florida in average. I’m sure that has much to do with the fact that we don’t have kids!

Ways To Save Tab

The Ways to Save tab is most likely the, way that Mint.com allows you to maintain a free account with their application. They will analyze how much you are spending on a particular service or the size of your interest rate, compare it with a company that they are partnered with, and then if they think that they can save you money, they’ll recommend that other service to you. Right now, it’s telling me that if I switch to the package that Verizon has for my internet, cable, and cell phone, they can save me $530 a year, rather than staying with Comcast and Tmobile as my providers. The only problem is that Verizon doesn’t offer cable service where I live. But, it’s still a pretty cool tool. If you’re looking to reduce your interest rate on your credit card, it will search other cards and recommend them to you that beat the APR on your current card.

Conclusion

I’m a big fan of the Mint.com application. Again, I’m not getting paid at all for this post. I just thought that you all might want my opinion about them before you spend a couple of hours setting everything up and playing with the application. You really have nothing to lose by trying it out. It’s totally free and there are no strings attached. If you hate it, just don’t use it or cancel the account. But if you really like it, I think it will really help you track your spending in an efficient way.