How-Low-Can-You-Go and Flying kites

Mint.com is an interesting site. They think of themselves as intuitive. It's not. I haven't found a good resource (haven't looked real hard either) on how to use this site to it's best advantage. I have learned that it takes a month of transactions to make any kind of useable information available. Patience is a virtue with this program. It won't tell you in the beginning stages that you are wrong, but it will after that.

I get red lettering e-mail that tells me my bank account is low, $48.08. So, I guess the program is set to alert anything under $50? I tend to play the game, How Low Can You Go? I lose that game often, and have to pay the dealer (I mean the bank) $30 for going too low. Of course, the bank is set to red letter me for anything under zero. What this all means is that the alert system in Mint.com is a good thing for me. I need to stop playing that game. Even as I type this I'm at $12.01. Payday is tomorrow.

(For those of you that read yesterday, you know that I have a check in the mail heading to an out of state bank for $59. This check will not even get to the out of state bank until today at the earliest - so yes, in a sense I am kiting checks. 1. At least the check is to myself. 2. The day the out of state bank cashes the check my paycheck will be newly in my working bank account and I won't have to worry about forgetting I wrote a check. Well yes, I do have an issue with forgetting to check the checkbook. I mean really, checks take so long to clear. This was a timed mailing to make sure the check gets there before I have a chance to empty the account.)

Good thing to celebrate is that the company I work for pays for public transportation costs to and from work. I am now in the system and I got my first distribution of funds. They pay me to ride the bus!! What's not to like? I love the bus. It's two thirds of my entertainment for the day. They pay me to come to work. I find this positively amazing. This is a bonus program I can live with. This program frees up $157 a month (my cost to ride the bus) to apply to other bills. I would like to put this in savings. Except I think I was living over my means so this amount will help to be within my means.

When I sit down with the basic list of non-changeable necessities Rent, Utilites, Auto Insurance, Internet, Old Credit Cards, etc., there is not really a lot left over for food, gas and savings. I'm still fussing with the lists. I don't like them, because they are not saying what I want to hear. The lists may be right. But, that's beside the point.

One other Good News moment...The secondary checking account that gets money swept into it every payday to take care of my rent is working GREAT. Rent was just not an issue this month. I mean, I got to forget about that whole account. I didn't worry about leaving enough money to cover rent. It was swept into the account already. I didn't think about it at all. That's the ticket. That's the way I want this all to work.

One step forward. Hold.