Time is money. Save both.

Especially around the holidays it is important to keep track of where your money is being spent. I've talked about charge cards before and how your really have to be careful, and persistent.

In the past I have kept track of my accounts online, as I have student loans, a car loan, an IRA, my credit card and said charge cards; not to mention, cell phone, cable, electricity etc. Between logging in on different sites with different passwords, security questions, security images -- even one of them requires a text message PIN if you are signing on from an unrecognized computer, it is easy to forget one; and the hassle of trying to reset it is enough to deter you from logging on.

I first started tracking my spending when I first started college, and got a computer that had MS Money on it. You could import your bank transactions and categorize them. Although it was time consuming, and I frequently neglected to do it. A few years later after I set up an IRA at Fidelity, they had a great "Full View" page where you can enter all of these account usernames and passwords, and they will import all the data from the sites you check automatically. No need to download your transactions and import them into Money or Quicken. A one stop shop so to speak, and I've used it for years now.

If you don't want to open an account with Fidelity (some banks have the equivalent tools), there is another site I've found that is free, and can help you organize your dough: Mint.com
I read about it on another blog, where they were discussing the different sites, including their security, that help you manage your money.

Mint allows you to import all of your credit card accounts, loans, banks, investments, into one easy screen. It analyzes your spending ( you can set categories up but it automatically categorizes your transactions) and reminds you of fees you are being charged (so you can get on the horn and complain about them!).

How do they make money you say?

Well they offer you "ways to save", but unlike other sites (even with MS Money, software you pay for and download, you have this problem) the advertizing is harly noticable.

The site is easy to set up and the interface is pretty easy to use, probably the easiest I've come accross. It's the best free personal finance software I've used (the only benefit of having fidelity's is I can have my cell phone and my airline miles accounts... but I now use both!).