I still write checks. Not as often as I once did but there are a couple of bills that still arrive on paper to which I respond with hand written payment. John has set up the others to be automatic and I am clueless about how much we spend on electricity, or water in any given month.
This week he linked me in to Mint. I scrolled through the transactions of the past half year, astonished at how it chronicled our spending. I saw evidence of every smoothie at my favorite bakery, and each impulse yard of fabric. This was in contrast to my lapsed memory when I picked up a package at the post office yesterday.
"Now, what was it I bought?"
Reviewing each purchase and deposit afforded me a bigger picture, of just how frequently I click, or meet a friend, or turn up the heat. It is such a brief interaction, the swipe and sign, I fool myself into believing it leaves no mark.
The app has no moral judgment of my choices, though there is a feature that indicates whether you have stayed within your budget.
"You spent $65 on restaurants this month. That is $15 over your allowance of $50."
There is no advice forthcoming about changing my behavior. Just awareness in case I want to.
Maybe there is a way to track my social exchanges. The negative ones vs. the positives.
"You criticized seven people this week, which is two more than your budget of five."
"You encouraged six friends, which is three less than you intended."
The app would be limited in its scope. Even Siri cannot jump in to make me apologize, the way my mother did when I was little. But awareness comes in handy if I want to change.
