Need a Mint?

"I'm smarter than you."

In fairness to Clark Howard, I don't think he's vain enough to actually say that out loud. That doesn't change the fact that it's true. A few months ago, I decided it was time to man up and create a budget. Because of my newfound proficency with Excel spreadsheets, I settled on making a run of the mill sheet with merged cells and elementary use of the formula function. Choosing this route meant personal responsibility (to stay within said budget) and saving my receipts in order to transfer the data into the aforementioned spreadsheet. You know the ending; like a house of cards, it failed. Awesome, looks like I'm destined to bleed more money than is necessary while saving as little as possible.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I'm cutting through traffic on I-20 listening to talk radio. At this point, I would have rather had a spinal tap than listen to one more observation about Matt Stafford's Pro Day that every male in the Greater Atlanta area, save for me, seemed to be interested in. After I pressed the 2 preset on my AM station, Clark Howard's brilliant, if sometimes annoying voice came on. Some poor woman was in the middle of a monologue detailing how Verizon had screwed her out of thousands of dollars. Even with flippant callers, Howard knows his bread and butter is being smart, steady, and thorough in the face of angry consumers. He calmly told the woman to settle down and laid out a multi-pronged process that she could utilize in hopes of rectifying the situation.

It goes without saying that Clark Howard's word is as good as gold in my book. If the man said owning my own ice cream truck was responsible and could potentially yield fiscal benefits, I'd do it in a heart beat. So, following his solution to the Verizon problem he started into an endorsement of a new budgeting/finance management web site he thought was stellar. Mint.com sounded more like a tea recipe website than a credible money management website. But, since Clark Howard is the sage of all things monetary, I had to take him at his word. And, since I had failed miserably at managing my own finances, this seemed to be the perfect remedy. Someone else did all the work and all I had to do was set a monthly budget. Sick. This thing was better than that time I shanked Amy Durrence on the Silver Comet Trail in 10th grade, only this time I don't have to deal with getting punched in the shoulder repeatedly. So after a full month using Mint, I fully believe you should Mint yourself. No, that's not innuendo.