Alternatively, you might try switching to using cash all the way!

Since around November last year, I pay nearly everything cash. I take out my “weekly allowance” on the same day each week (Thursday, usually), and spend everything out of my pocket. The benefits are:

1) I have found it comparatively easier to stick to my budget. In fact, for the first time, I am saving significant amounts of money each month. That may not be a problem for you, but for other people (e.g. the average Mint user), that may be a huge boon. The reason is that taking cash out of your wallet is a much more visceral, meaningful action than paying with plastic.

2) Entering the monthly transactions in my account has become trivial, since there’s only 4-5 withdrawal transactions a month (and a handful of bills).

Just thought I’d chime in with this. Thanks for the article!