I skeptically downloaded a budgeting app. The results were amazing.

How I've successfully cut my expenses by more than $200 per week

The power of budgeting apps.
(Image credit: iStock)

Is the devil you know better than the devil you don't? That was the question I asked myself after downloading a budgeting app to mercilessly track my spending habits. The cold, hard truth of my daily expenditures posed even more serious questions: Did I actually need this $3 latte, or could I soldier on without? Was it more fiscally responsible to flirt with guys for drinks than it was anti-feminist? And finally — how on Earth do I manage to spend more money on dry cleaning than acquiring my wardrobe in the first place?

Having made the decision to write full time, I knew I needed to streamline my budget. Hence the decision to download Mint, a budgeting app that lets you know — for free! — how much money you squander away per paycheck. Every expenditure is tracked from the moment you sign up and enter your bank account. In the past, I had tried to resist the measured life and the quantified existence: the counted steps, the REM cycles, the calories per snack. Where's the spontaneity in all that? I thought.

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Katherine Parker-Magyar

Katherine Parker-Magyar is a contributing writer for TheWeek.com. Her work has appeared in Quest Magazine, PopSugar, and the New Jersey Hills Media Group. She graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and received her masters degree from the New School. She's traveled to over 39 countries and all 50 states, but calls New York City home. Visit her at www.katherineparkermagyar.com.