plans are important

Ok, so some who know me (or at least one who knows me), understands my penchant for plans. I like to make plans. I'm not a crazy person who freaks out when plans change, but I like to have plans so that there is something to change in the first place. It also makes getting out of bed in the morning a little easier when I have an agenda.

anyway.

My first step in personal financial planning (at this point it's much more like financial management than planning, but there's my attachment to 'plans' at stake) was to make technology work for me in this battle.

Enter mint.com!

Basically, mint is a great little website that takes a lot of the painful parts out of budgeting. The magic goes somewhat like this:

1) make an account and attach it to your bank account (there's a whole 5 page thing about the security of this on the site, and I would suggest reading it because it makes sense)
2) mint downloads your debit card/credit card transactions every night and categorizes them into types of spending. you can re-categorize things when the software doesn't recognize a transaction, but it learns what businesses you shop at once you tell it.
3) watch the pie-graph go!

So there you go. With about zero effort I now have two months' history of spending trended out for me on easy to read graphs. It even lets you label cash you get out of the ATM. You can also add any investment accounts you have (for me, that's zero), or loans you have (my student loan sits there reminding me to pay it).

Seriously, this is the most useful thing the internet has given me in a while. It sends me emails when my checks clear and when my balance is low, but you can set it to your own preferences. I really advocate signing up and getting a look at what it can do for you. I know this just sounds like a commercial, but my bank's website is really annoying and hard to navigate, so this has just done so much for me.

Ok, I'll get off this particular soapbox now. Coming up: scheduling bills. Yeah....I've never done that. wheeeeeeeeeeee

ch-ch-ch-changes!

So maybe you all have noticed, as I have, that our motif for the year is Change. Sweet, sweet change has finally come to the White House, and my house. My little amount of change is in the form of a new dedication to dealing responsibly with my money, and a little bit of extra change in the literal sense. I finally have a few leftover dollars laying around some months and it's time to do something better with them than blow them on beer and eating out. Getting out of debt might be a good start.

Now, this isn't to say I'm basing my new frugal life on any kind of literal frugality. I'm 26 and I don't think I should have to give up eating out and spending time with friends. I also don't think I should have to give up buying supplies for my one creative outlet and hobby, knitting. I'm also one of those people who buys coffee every day and keeps saying "Man, if I got a coffee maker I'd save so much money." I won't give that up, either (though some sort of french press might end up on the shortlist, if only so I don't have to leave my house on Saturday mornings when it's 8 degrees). In short, I will not sacrifice everything I enjoy in my 20's so that I can enjoy my 60's.

What I will do:

1) Start some measurable amount of savings.
2) Monitor my spending to understand my own trends so that I can plan accordingly (not make unreasonable limits).
3) Raise my credit rating significantly over the next 3 years.
4) Be able to make travel plans without ending up a crying heap on my bed.
5) Feel confident that I will enjoy my 60's as much as I'm enjoying my 20's.

So there they are. My initial ambitions. I'm sure this list will grow, shrink, and/or change in any other way that seems prudent, but I think it's a good start.