I used an app to set up my first-ever budget and it changed the way I look at my money

My spending habits in college became a part of life post-grad: eating out almost every night, shopping on the weekends, buying unnecessary arts and crafts materials for DIY projects I never do.

All the small purchases added up on my credit card bill, which most of my money went to pay off. I was essentially living paycheck to paycheck.

Limiting my spending never really crossed my mind, but I really hoped to start developing habits to help me get rich. I finally decided to try to manage my budget.

I downloaded Mint, a personal finance app for budgeting and money management. It tracks my spending, sets budgets for different categories of spending, and even gives advice on what I can do to maximize savings. I connected all my credit card and debit card accounts to get the best overview of my spending as well as my student loan debt: my total net worth. I was at -$17,552.

After using this budgeting app for a month, here's how it changed the way I looked at my money: