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Budget For Holidays With Free Tracking Program

DENVER (CBS4)- Keeping track of of your spending during the holidays can be stressful. One local couple tried a tool that helps keep them on budget.

Amber Toth and Jesse Casillas are newly engaged. They're trying to save for a wedding and still buy holiday gifts. They decided to set up a budget to help them save and to help them avoid arguments over money.

"We both had very different ways of budgeting our money," said Casillas.

They found a free budgeting program on mint.com.

"Within seconds I have a plethora of information on my accounts," said Casillas.

The program aggregates all accounts and bills. It also helps design a budget and then tracks all spending.

"You can actually set up text alerts to let you know when you've exceeded your limit," said Casillas.

Certified Financial Planner DeDe Jones said programs like mint.com work for a range of income levels including millionaires, struggling college students and everyone in between.

"Use it to see if cash is flowing through your life the way you expect it to. If you're surprised by where it's going, it's a great time to make those changes," said Jones.

"If you're like I'm not spending that much money on eating out then it pulls it up and says actually, you are, there's no arguing," said Toth.

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