
The app displays a segmented bar graph to represent your overall budget and how much money you have left to spend. The budget was easy to create and simple to track. Based on the accounts linked to the app, it analyzes which areas you spend the most money and it helps you to create a solid game plan for your spending. My favorite aspect was the customizable monthly budget. The “Overview” page is great if you want to get a swift grasp of your overall money, but the “Monthly” page provides a more in-depth analysis of your spending. It creatively instilled a positive, fun mentality towards being money-conscious. I won and the “reward” was the amount of money I saved, which was a beneficial way to frame spending. Mint successfully made me feel like I was playing a game when they gave me the challenge to not spend over a certain amount on food in a week. It made me realize college has pushed me to spend a lot of money on coffee. I never felt overwhelmed when looking through the app, and it still kept me conscious about the areas in which I spent more money. This app broke down my expenses in the most direct, simple way. Sometimes in regular banking apps, all of your transactions are simply thrown at you, making it tricky to notice spending patterns.

For example, when I purchased a vanilla iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, they categorized my transaction under “Coffee Shops.” As you scroll down, you will bump into recent transactions that are automatically categorized. Next to the “Net worth” section, they have a tab that follows the same format for spending.
