I remember once being at a party and talking with some friends of friends who had just purchased a fabulous house. This was before we had kids and I barely was able to manage my finances. But I remember my husband and me snickering after they told us, rather earnestly, that decided to buy the house after they had "spreadsheeted" their finances and figured out a way to not only afford it, but also continue to manage it in a sustainable way. What geeks, we thought. Well, fast-forward a few years and my husband lost his job, four months after I had our second child and two months post the Lehman Bros/Wall Street collapse that really felt like the end of the world. Enter the spreadsheet. At the urging of so many friends who were all spreadsheeting already (I bet you didn't know this was a verb?!), we started it. My sister in law told me that it's become a game for her, too. Well, it's no game, but it sure has helped me manage everything. I still impulse shop (though it's rare) and I still splurge (rarer still), but what it's given me is peace of mind. I'm considering using mint.com now. My old excel ways are kind of silly and old-fashioned at this point. So wondering - anyone using mint.com or some kind of online financial management tool? anyone have great suggestions? thanks!

I LOVE mint.com! I have set my goal to purchase a new home. It told me how much house I can afford with what down-payment. I have myself on a budget with Mint and it even has an app for my smart phone. It also tells me what my net worth is. It's a bit sad when I see my student loans figured in. But I will get there.

I already did my taxes with Turbatax (Intuit) which owns Mint.com. I used my tax return to pay down my student loan debt. :-)

It does everything. I am handling one goal at a time. Once I purchase a home, I will begin working on saving for my son's education and future using mint.com.

I love Mint! You can use it to save, use it to budget, it has everything. It loads your bank account info and any other account that you can load in. There are some issues, it is not compatible with all of your bills or accounts and getting that fixed can be a pain, but it is an awesome tool!