Minty Fresh!

Here's something cool: Mint, a free online personal finance application that helps you keep track of your net worth, your budget, your spending habits, and your debt situation.

I find it handy to use the budgeting and spending tools; it's kind of cool to be able to have my computer tell me instantly how my spending has changed over time. For instance, it was reassuring to see how, due to my new job, we have begun to officially build up our net worth again, and to realize again how solid our savings account makes our finances seem.

The only thing that depresses me a little bit is that we don't have any investments, so we can't use the cool investment tracking thingy. Oh, well. Maybe in ten years or so.

Some people might be freaked out about the fact that Mint connects itself to your bank and credit accounts, so you have to give it your passwords for your online banking stuff. But don't worry— it's VeriSign secure and TrustE certified, so if you buy things on the internet anyways, this is really no different, at least in terms of security.

It's a pretty fun little device, actually, and I think it'll help us to identify things that we could cut out of our budget entirely. Check it out!