ShanKri-la Feature: Save money the Web 2.0 way – Wesabe.com

Sorry about the little hiatus. Long story short.. it has been a crazy week at work after a week away from work at a training! It’s time for the weekly ShanKri-la feature!

We just bought a house a month back. We feel the pinch from a large part of our paycheck going to the mortgage. I am not the brightest in the pack when it comes to money management. But, over the last year I have been passively reading about it in various excellent sources around the web. I have to admit that I don’t do the impulsive purchases i used to make anymore or at least way less than before. I think this must be from just thinking and reading about this topic has a sub-conscious effect on me. I am able to tell myself NO! easier than before.

If thinking about money can change your spending habits, why not get involved a little bit more? I like the web and the way it enriches our lives. I like the communities that grow in the web with like-minded people flocking together like I am attempting in this blog. So, why not use a tool that is web-based and has some community input at the same time.

That’s when I found Wesabe – Take Control of Your Money!

Here are the quick facts:

• It’s FREE for upto 12 accounts.
• Upload statements from your banks, credit cards, savings accounts either automatically or manually with statements downloaded from the respective websites.
• Tag your expenses and view monthly spending based on tags.
• Convert your transaction titles to something you can like! For eg: From ‘DEB/14673 SAFEWA 37 19 OAKLS G‘ to ‘Safeway’
• They analyze all the different accounts and spending and show us tips and recommendations from the community.
• Your data is not shared with anyone.
• It matches the places we shop at and offer tips from people who shop at the same place!! Of course you would offer tips to your fellow wesabe users when you come across one!
  
• You could set spending targets for your expenses and see if you exceeded any quickly at the end of the month.
• Your savings are tied to goals..which would motivate you to spend less so you can save for that LCD TV or the pool table or a boat (whatever your desire may be) you are drooling for..
• It takes way too much time to budget using Money or Quicken.. I just want something simple!
• One thing I would love to see, is a way to group tags like you could do on del.icio.us and I see that it is already in enhancement requests.
• No one else can see your data.

It has a nice Web 2.0 ajaxy touch to it. I think as the user base grows around Wesabe, it is going to take things to a whole different level. They have just received a $750K venture capital funding and that can only mean new features and development in the near future!! Here are a few links to get you started..

Wesabe FAQ – A must read if you are uploading your accounts to realize the site’s full potential.

Wheaties for your wallet – Wesabe blog with nice tips and news about the site.

Get Rich Slowly Article – One of the blogs that I frequently visit has a great tutorial (even though it’s a little dated) and lot of the quirks mentioned then have been worked out now. A great read along with the FAQ if you want to learn more before you start uploading your statements.

Give it a try and let us know how you liked it or didn’t like it.