I haven't written a Friday Favorites post since the beginning of May! The last 3 months have seriously just flown by. So many life changes right now - all for the best. I'll catch you up soon enough, once the dust settles. Until then, I'll be sporadically posting {not that it's any different than what I've been doing lately}.
Today I want to share my 5 favorite finance / bill management websites. Last month I shared my
finances binder. I used it all through July and love it. But I do still use a few online resources to help me manage by finances and bills. They keep me
reminded at times like these when my mind is fried by 3 p.m. {On a side note - I seriously used to have
the best memory. I don't know what's happened. I don't want to say "aging". I'm only 25, after all. But I think it's the hypothyroidism. I noticed the memory-decline around the time I was diagnosed. I don't even know if that's possible - but I have major "brain farts" all of the time.}
#1 {
Mint.com}
Perhaps you've heard of Mint? I have been using it for quite a few years now and absolutely love it. Here's my financial confession: we don't balance a checkbook. *gasp* I keep receipts, but I'm far too lazy to take the time to add/subtract from a check register. Everything is online, after all. I monitor our bank accounts closely, so I don't see the big deal. Mint helps me with this by nicely managing all of my bank, credit card, and student loan accounts in one place. I can see transactions and balances. I can categorize so I can see our spending "trends" each month. {A little to heavy on the dining out "trend" last month. Oops!} Besides all of the cool stuff I've already mentioned, Mint has a smartphone app. I absolutely LOVE this. I can easily log in to the app and see our current cash balance {as well as that lovely negative debt balance - which actually has, at times, caused me to rethink purchases}. Our bank accounts would be a mess if it weren't for Mint - seriously.
#2 {
Capital One 360}
Hear me out. I'm not trying to "sell you" on a bank - I just really
love Capital One 360 {formerly ING Direct}. We've had an account with them for 3 years now. We also
have an account with a local bank, but I love CO360 more. The whole reason
for opening this account was so we could save money. Save in a place
with a decent interest rate. Save in a place that's "out of sight, out
of mind" - CO360 is an online bank. They have a super cool smartphone app
as well. The app lets me take pictures of checks to deposit them. They currently have a promo where you get
$20 for signing up. It was seriously one of the best decisions we've
made to open an account with CO360. I have 3 savings accounts and one
checking - all with zero fees. Why have 2 accounts? We use our local
bank for spending cash {Chris' paycheck is automatically deposited in
this account} and the CO360 account for savings and bill pay {my paycheck
is automatically deposited in this account}.
#3 & 4 {
Manilla &
Pageonce}
Manilla and Pageonce are bill management made easy. I linked up all of my bill accounts - credit cards, utilities, insurance, rewards accounts, and even magazine subscriptions. I like that I can log in and view all of my accounts in one place. I seriously can't choose between the two. I like them both equally, even though they pretty much do the same thing. Both have smartphone apps that are great. I really love that both sites will send me bill reminders automatically {right now I only have the Pageonce alerts turned on}. If I haven't paid the bill at the time of the email, I'll star it in my Gmail account so I get to it ASAP. Since I check my email all of the time, I see that reminder constantly.
#5 {
Credit Sesame}
Credit Sesame is the ultimate tool for viewing all of my debts and my credit score in one place - for
free! They analyze my creditworthiness and current debt, and then give me advice on ways to lower payments and save money when looking for a new loan or credit card. I mostly use this website for keeping up with my credit score. I want to make sure I'm keeping things in excellent standing so that when we're finally ready to buy a house, we can get the best rate possible.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite finance & bill management websites. I'd love to hear what your favorite financial websites are as well!
