Money & Finance #58: Banking, Budgeting, and Spending

1. My bank does offer online banking. It is free. It appears to be a secure site -- There is that little lock symbol to let you know it is secure. We also have a special security gizmo that plugs into a USB port. We always log onto the bank through this security. I like the fact that this is a convenient way to balance the various accounts we have. We can see what checks came through and what deposits were made. We can also transfer money between the accounts. There is also a bill paying feature but we have not used that. We also had bad experiences with a previous bank that made automatic payments to charge accounts without us authorizing. I am wary about setting up any type of bill paying. We also need to remember to logout when the banking is done and close down the browser. That completely disconnects any kind of connection.

2. I looked at Mint and expensr. They appear to be similar. Both claim to take a few (5?) minutes to register. They both want bank account info, credit card info, etc. My husband and I have our information in one place and review our spending through our checking accounts. I did not register with Mint and expensr because I did not want another account on another website and I did not want to put this information on another website. I could see possibly using Mint but I do not want to put this information out there right now.

3. I took the spending quiz. I scored a 50 -- not so hot. Then I read the article from Consumer Reports on Spend less on everything. Two things I am going to try: 1. using the light bulbs they recommend and 2. store hopping when shopping to get the most value for certain things. I did notice that cereal, batteries are cheaper at Walmart than Kroger BUT milk is cheaper at Kroger than Walmart and I am not talking Bordens! Go figure!