Mint.com: Manage Your Money for FREE (Plus, Hip2Save Reader Reviews)

Hip2Save may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you via trusted partners and affiliate links in this post. Prices and availability are accurate as of time posted. Read our full disclosure policy here.

If you are a fairly new Hip2Save reader, then you may not have seen my previous post on “How are YOU getting organized in 2012?” earlier this year.  Well, since it’s already April (where has the time gone!?), I thought I’d remind you about Mint.com, the perfect FREE tool for those of you who are determined to find an easy way to create (and follow) a budget.  As I’ve mentioned before, Mint.com is a secure web–based solution for online financial management and the best part– it’s FREE!

Remember the “Coupon Millionaire“?…they use Mint.com!

Here’s how it works…

*First, go here where you’ll be able to register anonymously using any valid email address, and then add the log–in information for the online bank, credit union, credit card and investment accounts you want to consolidate in Mint.com.

*Mint connects securely to nearly all US banking financial institutions that have Internet banking capability; your account information is updated daily.

*Mint automatically categorizes all your purchases, showing you how much you spend on gas, groceries, parking, rent, restaurants, DVD rentals and more. (I love the fact that Mint creates pie charts of your expenses…it definitely helps those of us who are visual learners 🙂 ); Mint also provides you with tools to plan, create and track a budget

*Mint automatically analyzes and graphs your investment performance, showing you how you’re doing versus relevant market indices like the S&P 500 and highlighting the fees you’re paying in each of your accounts.

*Mint’s advanced alerting system sends you email or SMS messages (your choice) on any unusual activity, low balances, fees and upcoming bills so you’re in constant contact with your money.

*Mint.com uses bank-level data security verified by Verisign and TrustE; you’re anonymous on Mint.com; you don’t share your name, address, social security number or account numbers.

Check out some of these rave reviews of Mint.com from Hip2Save readers:

I LOVE MINT AND RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY. It’s free and easy to use once you get all the information update to day. I do love the budgeting tool. Its good away to see everything all at once. I hated quicken and never go it to work. Its safe in my opinion.

I use Mint and I love it. Mint is VERY thorough with their security. They use Yodlee to store your bank info, which is the very same service that Bank of America uses for its online banking. It is actually just as safe as logging into your online banking account.

I’ve used Mint for almost a year and haven’t had any issues with security. It has been really good for seeing where my money goes and to see what I can still cut out and also how much some of my budget cuts are helping. It also has a “reimbursable” category for items purchased for all those rebates… which is a substantial amount of the non perishable items I purchase. I’d highly recommend it.

If you are currently one of the 1 million members of Mint.com, please let us know in the comment section below what you think of this budgeting tool…has it made you more aware of your expenses and has it helped you stick with a budget? Let us know!

Join The Discussion

Comments 29

  1. Ashley57

    Love this tool! Go through Swagbucks for like 100 SB when you sign up.

    • Jesse

      great tip! I love my swagbucks 🙂

    • Rachael

      how do you find mint on Swagbucks?

  2. Valerie L.

    I started using Mint.com over a year ago or so. At first I didn’t pay that much attention to the tools on there as it was having problems logging into some of my accounts. However, within the past 4-6 months I have used this service a lot more. I set up a goal of paying off my car, which is now done. I also set up a goal of paying off all credit cards, which one of three is completely done. I am well on my way to paying off the second one next month and the third one will be paid off sooner then the “goal date”. I really do like using Mint.com because it does allow me to see where my money is going. With the help of using coupons and mint.com I have been able to save quite a bit of money and not buy so many things because I do have those set goals and would like to achieve them before the “goal date”.

  3. Dee

    Love this site! Pretty awesome tool and helps keep you accountable and on track for all of your budgeting and financial goals!

  4. Margaret

    This is a great idea, but it makes me uncomfortable knowing a third party has access to all of my entire financial situation. Especially with all the cases of hacking and identity theft these days…I think I’ll pass. Plus, if it’s free for us, how do they make their money?

    • Karii

      That’s what I was wondering as well. What is in it for them, if this is free? “Nothing is free!” 😛 Interesting idea though.

    • Collin (Mrs. Hip)

      Great question and it is actually answered in the Mint.com Help section…

      We make money when you save money with the Ways To Save feature on Mint.com. If you sign up for a checking, savings, credit card or brokerage account marked as sponsored, we earn a referral fee.

    • Holly

      I agree with you. I am hesitant because they will have all my banking, credit card, investment info, etc. I am looking for a software to budget since I am currently using an excel spreadsheet which is very time consuming. I would like to find a software I can load to my computer and not have all my info stored on someone else’s website where it is very vulnerable. If anyone has any idea’s please let me know!

  5. Brit

    I love Mint! I’ve been using it for over a year now, and it has really helped me keep track of all our expenditures. There’s no “getting away” with purchases outside of the budget. Mint see them all!

  6. DD

    I have been signed up with Mint.com for a few years. It can be scary to see how much you spend in some areas! I have never had any problems with account theft.

  7. emilytwinmom

    I use a google spreadsheet for our budget, so not only can I see where our money is scheduled to go, I can see how much we’ll have after bills are paid, and I can see what we went over budget on. I balance the budget against our bank account every few days, and it’s amazing how much we used to spend on silly things! We have been able to pay down a lot of bills thanks to budgeting – so whether you do it yourself or do it through mint.com, seeing where your money goes and setting goals to pay off debt really works!!!

  8. Molly

    I use mint.com and love it!

  9. CB

    I have been a Mint user for a few years now and I love it! I have not ever had any problems with the use of this website.

  10. JH

    I have been using Mint.com since 2008 and I love it. I use it to track my small business expenses, charitable contributions, and work related expenses. You can categorize all your expenses, so you can download all your expenses on a spreadsheet when come tax time. Does anyone know how to download the transactions for just a certain time frame instead of all your transactions?

  11. Breanna

    I am a financial advisor and I recommend people use mint.com when they first come into my office. I believe that setting a budget and mainting is the first step in getting a hold on your financial future. Once a budget is put into place you can visualize where you can cut and how much you can save. Intuit, the owners of mint.com, have a good reputation and we use their other products (quickbooks) in our office as well. Like Collin said they make their money from offering ways to save. They post credit cars with better rates than the ones you are using, for example, and if you sign up through them they get a little cut.

  12. kelsey

    mint.com is one of the most awesome/convenient/helpful things that has ever happened to me. 22 y/o female

  13. jimmy

    How does mint.com know how much you spend on groceries?

    • Jennifer R

      It downloads your transactions so when it downloads Kroger it puts it into your grocery budget. If you actually bought gas you can change it on your own.

    • Erin

      It syncs with your credit card and generally does an accurate job of categorizing. You can also input manually, but we have a cash rewards credit card and pay it off monthly so we put almost every purchase on our card (not for everyone, but we are very disciplined).

  14. felicia

    I LOVE MINT!! I starting using it about 5 years ago when I got divorced, it was nice to see all my accounts checking/savings/credit cards/loans in one place. I was broke, I had a mortgage house in North Carolina that wouldn’t sell, I was living Japan and taking care of 2 kids without child support- it was rough! Mint really helped me see where my money was going. I managed to get out of debt within a year after the divorce. When I started couponing last year I finally set up a budget and that has been so helpful. I had no idea how many little trips to fast food places I had been making!! I still have to go in about 1-2 times a week to make sure everything is in the proper catagory, occasionally it decided walgreens isn’t “groceries” and it ends up “uncatagorized”.

  15. Lynn

    We have mint but have some questions. Mint never got back to us with answers. Is there a way to set up a category ( I want a only Target category) and have all Target charges default to this category? Also, does anyone know if you can have it download the last years credit card bills and spread sheet those as well?
    We like the program just wish there was a way to ask someone some questions.

    • Jennifer R

      You absolutely can set up your own category. Go into Transactions and make like you are going to change the transaction category. Once in there you will select what main category you’d like your new Target category to show up under. Once you have highlighted ‘Shopping (for example)’ You will see Add/Edit Categories as the bottom option.

      Once you’ve added your category highlight your first Target charge and click on Edit Details. Change the category to Target and check the box that says “Change all Target charges to this category”.

  16. Erin

    We love mint! It makes the totality of your finances within easy access. We love the budget features and Mint sends us e-mails when we are in danger of exceeding our budget. We always know what we own on our home and college loans and how much we have in our investments. Mint will even warn us about upcoming payments due.

    All in all, it is a wonderful program that has really helped us organize our finances and track our progress towards financial goals.

  17. Michelle

    Our credit union uses a pretty old web system for online banking. Has anyone had any problems connecting their credit union account to this? I would love to know before I sign up! Thanks!!!

    • Kristina

      Michelle – I was able to connect to our credit union with no issues at all.

      I recently discovered Mint and love it. We’ve only been using it for about 2 months. I was SHOCKED at how much we were spending on fast food and restaurants. It really was an eye-opener. Keeping track of our spending is definitely making me more accountable.

      It does take a some time to get the hang of the website (although it is very user friendly) and the more time you can spend on details, the more information you can get out of it. Again, it has been a wonderful tool and I am confident that we will continue to use it for a long time to come.

  18. Em

    WellsFargo has a thing like this on their online banking, it rocks. Plus, no third party!

  19. Whitley

    Some banks are starting to use a program that’s even better than this. It’s called Kasasa 360 or moneyview. I like it a lot better than mint’

  20. VANESSA SUAREZ

    I LOVE mint.com, I signed up in January 2011. With the help of mint.com, I stuck to my budget and was able to pay off $10,000 of debt in 15 months! Now I am using my mint.com account to build savings.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

It's not your Grandma's coupon site!

Sign up for a Hip2Save account (it's free) to access all of the awesome features!

Forgot Password?

Don't have an account? Register

Forgot Password

Don't have an account? Register

Become a Hip2Save Insider

Don't Miss Out! Join our large community of insiders - it's totally free! Once you join, you'll be able to save & share your favorite deals, rate posts and recipes and add items to your HipList and Cookbook! What are ya waiting for?!



Already have an account? Login

Thank you for rating!

Would you also like to leave us a comment?