I probably had just the right reaction when I saw the pie chart of my spending last month.

“$369 on food??” I shrieked at my boss, who just gave me the same “I have no idea” look I was giving myself.
It was all because of www.mint.com, a free online budgeting/money management program. Scratch that. It’s the online budgeting/money management program.

I clicked the orange “sign up” button on the site, entered in some account info, gave Mint some bank info (I know, it’s scary. But secure and safe, I swear) … and in two minutes it was connecting to my bank.

And then two minutes later, this message: “Success! See your overview!”
By some work of Internet magic, all of the information I see on my online checking account was there, in a readable format. It gave me my net worth, my cashflow, and — this is my favorite part so far — it organizes how you spend your money in a clickable pie chart. So when I wanted to see just how

I managed to spend $369 in December on food, I simply clicked that piece of the pie. Ahh, right, so that explains it: I’ve apparently purchased stock in Qdoba.

Mint founder and CEO — and Evansville native — Aaron Patzer says he started the site out of his frustration for other financial tools available at the time.

“It’s an important thing, especially right now, with the economy the way it is,” the 28-year-old said. With a top-100 iPhone app and a growing user base, Mint is especially popular with the 20-something crowd. “It’s because it’s got a great user interface and it’s really simple to use. It’s got a clean and fun design — as opposed to bank sites.”

I’ve been motivated by the pie chart alone to make sure my little “shopping” wedge goes from I’m-not-telling to less than $10. Hey, it’s a plan, right?
When I’m ready, I can create a budget, billing alerts, look for savings, and get help buying big-kid purchases. And it’s helping in all the areas the 20- to 30-somethings need: eliminating credit card debt, cutting back on the amount you eat out, pay off loans, etc.

I haven’t gone all the way, though (according to the site, I’m only 29 percent “Minty”). I’m not quite ready to see my entire net worth when the Scion car loan and student loans are factored in.

I don’t think even mint.com can handle those figures.