Posted: July 06, 2009

Last year, TechCrunch was raving about Mint. And as with so many reviews on tech sites, I just tucked it away in the back of my mind.

It's not that I didn't think it was great. It's just that we all need ANOTHER personal finance tool like we need a hole in the head. But after the 4th or 5th article about Mint I relented and gave it a try.

I'm glad I did. In fact I started recommending it to everyone, including my wife.

What's so great about Mint as a personal finance tool? For starters, all of your daily expenses are likely to be tracked since most of us don't carry cash anymore. Second, you can alter and shift the categories of record keeping which is easier than forcing you into the style of record keeping used by software such as Quicken. Third, you can get an accurate picture of your spending habits. And over time, you can begin to set realistic budgets for your spending instead of just guessing about your spending needs.

Which brings me to my point - food. Yes, food. I'm sort of partial to food, and I bet you are too. But, most of us really don't know what we spend on food. We might have a budget of $500 or so for groceries, but do you also budget for those unexpected trips to the pub or coffee shop?

Since my wife and I both track our expenses through Mint, we've taken the data from the last six months and compiled the food expenditures to see what we are really spending on food. Again, I think it's really cool to do because I don't think most of us have an accurate picture of this very elastic category.

So, from January 1, 2009, through June 30, 2009, it turns out that as a (small) household, we spend $4.70 per person, per meal. And that includes EVERYTHING - groceries, trips to the pub, coffee beans, restaurants and even the local bottle shop where we stocked up for our spring martini party (Manhattans, Margaritas and Martini's for 40 people).

$4.70 - per person, per meal - 3 meals per day, 181 days.

This is an example of Mint's charting tool and does not include both of our reports.



Although Mint does not break down this data as a per meal, per day, per person data point, it's easy enough to do with a calculator, or Excel. Mint makes it easy by providing the grouping of the data and allowing you to aggregate over time with instant graphing tools and sliders.

If you're on a budget (if you're not, you soon will be), or if you are looking for ways to cut costs without a lot of pain (if you're not, you soon will be), this kind of analysis gives you a very clear indicator of where you can cut expenses.

For example, if we were to cut out straight alcohol purchases (trips to the local bottle shop for wine, etc.,), how much do we save? Well, aside from the raw 6 month cost ($434.00), it turns out that we would trim our per meal average by $0.48 cents.

Perhaps I am foolish, but I'm willing to spend two quarters per meal for a little relaxation and enjoyment with friends and neighbors. If things tighten even more, then I can cut back to one quarter per meal. Get the picture? Mint makes it easy to put things in real terms.

If we cut out restaurants (almost impossible for 90% of the U.S.), then we save $1.18 per meal. While we're not swimming in a sea of money, we've been able to avoid the worst of the recession with smart choices. But looking at this data, we can certainly envision cutting back on eating out, and shoot for something like a $0.80 per meal average on eating out. Again, this kind of analysis puts the cost into terms you can relate to and grasp. It makes setting targets easy because moving that average down is easier than saying "I am not going to eat out this month," a goal that most people fail to achieve.

Now, I don't know if $4.70 per person, per meal, per day is high or low for the average person or family. It would be interesting to find out how we compare. But, I can say that for our $4.70 per meal, we eat very well. Our food choices are mostly vegetarian (I am the occasional meat eater and only when eating out), and we don't buy any pre-packaged meals for home. We either cook it from scratch or we eat at a local restaurant - and no fast food - PERIOD. So, from my point of view, $4.70 is a reasonable amount.