Budgeting and Mint Question

[modern_muslimah]

I like to use Mint to keep track of my spending. However, lately I've noticed that for many of my transactions, Mint will count them twice. Once as the actual transaction and then as a transaction from JC Penney. It's really frustrating because it seems like I've spent twice what I actually have. I'm not sure how to fix this problem. I've looked online and on Mint's website and haven't been able to find a solution. So I was wondering if anyone here has encountered this problem and been able to solve it.

Also, anyone have recommendations on free budgeting sites or software?

 

[Deleted member 1204]

I used to use Mint but because of the glitches you describe, I changed to Personal Capital and have been very happy with it.

 

[Aceon6]

A quick Google search shows that others have had the problem and there are multiple ways to fix it. I use Quicken and have never had issues.

 

[MacMadame]

I've had the issue. In my case, I was including my husband's accounts from our bank and my accounts and some of them were duplicated. I went into Settings and chose to Hide the duplicate accounts and that fixed it.

 

[purple skates]

I use an excel spreadsheet.

/old school

 

[modern_muslimah]

I've had the issue. In my case, I was including my husband's accounts from our bank and my accounts and some of them were duplicated. I went into Settings and chose to Hide the duplicate accounts and that fixed it.

Thanks for the tip! I'm marking all the JC Penney transactions as duplicates now.

I use an excel spreadsheet.

/old school

I decided to download an Excel budget template yesterday and it's not bad. I'm going to try it for a while to compare it against Mint. I'm also trying YNAB too. Then I'll eventually see which one I like best. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[PrincessLeppard]

I, uh, check my bank account and see if there's money.....

I do have a budget book, but I don't like the categories, and then I get irked trying to fit stuff in. Maybe I will check out Mint and Personal Capital.

 

[personwhoishere]

I, uh, check my bank account and see if there's money.....

This, this is me.

I've looked into other methods of budgeting and I do have my monthly income vs my monthly expenses in a little note on my phone, but that's about it.

 

[quartz]

I'm even more old school than purple skates, as I don't even figure out a budget at all.

This is my great master plan:
Savings/investments first.
Don't ever spend money before you have earned it.

Having a cheap-assed, frugal, Dutch mentality is actually not a bad thing.

 

[MacMadame]

I do have a budget book, but I don't like the categories, and then I get irked trying to fit stuff in. Maybe I will check out Mint and Personal Capital.

This is why Mint is perfect for me: I don't have to do anything and my transactions all end up categorized. Now, they aren't always categorized perfectly but several times a year I fix that -- takes about an hour -- and then I'm good to go.

By using Mint, I have to do less math too. For example, if I need to know my current level of debt, it's already calculated. And if I need to know what it would take to pay off all my credit cards, I can get that too with not adding up any numbers or maybe adding 2 or 3 numbers if I want to include stuff they don't include in the CC total.

Plus all my accounts are in one place.

 

[vesperholly]

Perhaps it's changed since I last used it years ago, but Mint used to drive me crazy with purchases that had to be split. If I bought a t-shirt and eggs at Target, it would just show up as $15 from Target and I'd have to manually split the charges for $2 grocery and $13 clothing. And it could never connect with my 401k, so I was getting an incomplete financial picture at all times.

 

[quartz]

Whoa. If budgeting means tracking every carton of eggs I buy then I'm glad I don't follow any system. Who has time for that??

 

[MacMadame]

Budgeting means whatever you want it to mean.

In my case, it means checking once in a while and noting "man, we spend a lot on eating out. Maybe we should cut that out." and then doing nothing.

But people who want to keep track of everything they spend down to the penny would probably be better served by the desktop version of Quicken. (Assuming that still exists.) That product was developed for those people. Mint was developed for people like me: want to do better at finances, but not if it takes much effort.

 

[RunDanceSkate]

I, uh, check my bank account and see if there's money.....

I do have a budget book, but I don't like the categories, and then I get irked trying to fit stuff in. Maybe I will check out Mint and Personal Capital.

Wow you check your bank account. I pay all the bills due in the next 2 weeks until the next payday, then use my debit card until it is declined.

 

[Aussie Willy]

When you get paid monthly like I do it is essential to work out what your spending patterns are so you can make your money last over the month. But I just do a simple excel spreadsheet.

 

[vesperholly]

Whoa. If budgeting means tracking every carton of eggs I buy then I'm glad I don't follow any system. Who has time for that??

Certainly not me! But what was frustrating is that if you don't split it, you can't accurately track the overall amount of spending per week/month/year on your budget categories.

My income, other than a baseline FT job, has always been crazy variable from the many side jobs I've had over the years, so I'm always stymied by traditional budgets.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

When you get paid monthly like I do it is essential to work out what your spending patterns are so you can make your money last over the month. But I just do a simple excel spreadsheet.

I don't even do that, and I work in information technology and am a "recovering accountant". I have a simple manual template of monthly recurring expenses and their due dates, and work from that template and my semimonthly pay check amounts to know what cash I have left for discretionary spending, savings, less frequent bills (real estate or personal property taxes) after each pay period. The manual template would work just as well, if not better, as a spreadsheet, of course - but I have just been too lazy to type it up.

I did, however, develop an Excel worksheet to plan for US Federal Income tax withholding and filing, including how and when to change exemptions claimed to maximize pay check net amounts when necessary. I know the Federal taxable income for each pay check and track withholdings and payments for itemized deductions, and have worked out the annualized formula for the YTD taxes owed versus my YTD federal withholding. That was actually fun to develop myself for free once I had the accurate annual tax calculation formula and the Federal tax withholding calculation for semimonthly pay - even with what-if calculations using different amounts of exemptions claimed for one or more pay periods.

 

[purple skates]

Wow you check your bank account. I pay all the bills due in the next 2 weeks until the next payday, then use my debit card until it is declined.

I have two checking accounts. One is used solely for recurring, electronic bills and is funded through my work direct deposit - although I pay as many as I can with a rewards credit card then pay the card off each month from that account. (In a few more months I will be able to get a $350 statement credit on the card - just waiting for the bonus level to kick in.)

The other is for general living expenses.