Hint of Mint

I like to shop. A lot. And not only do I enjoy retail therapy, but also: going to the movies, eating out (while cooking is enjoyable, there's nothing like trying a new restaurant, hence my Yelp addiction) and exploring the city's endless festivals and museums. Combine all these activities together and you have the potential for a budget disaster. Living in San Francisco is not cheap by any means, and sometimes you have to sit down with a calculator and make sure the sorbet/wine bar/fancy jeans/running gear purchases aren't going to suck up the rent funds for the month.

Luckily the internet gods have been looking down on us financial nitwits and have come up with a solution for money management. Mint.com is a free web-based application to help manage personal finances (and it just recently came out of beta).

What's great is that you can manage all of your accounts from one central site. The main page can be linked to all of your accounts (credit cards, checking and savings accounts) and Mint.com will automatically categorize your purchases.

Not like I needed a pie chart to tell me that I spend more on necklaces and scarves than I do on groceries...