So as I mentioned in my Tech New Year’s Resolution post, I never stick to my New Year’s resolutions and this year was no different. I pretty much fell off the wagon immediately after I wrote my original post but flash forward to May and I have revisited #3 – Monitor my finances weekly.

In my case, it’s because I live in one of the MOST expensive cities in the world – Vancouver, Canada. Right now, gas is $1.49 per liter, which means every week I fill up my awesome back-saving minivan, it costs me $90. Ouch!

To help monitor my finances I have been using a product called NeatDesk. It’s basically a scanner which scans cards, receipts and documents. You can then analyze what you have been spending money on and figure out where to cut back or how much your kids are costing you with their after school activities. Since I have been using it much more frequently, I’ve got a good handle on the product.

Here are my thoughts/feedback on NeatDesk…

Pros: Very user friendly; I got a receipt stuck in it and instantly got it out. This is huge for me since I couldn’t correctly open a package of cereal, even if you paid me. It has been well designed for people like me. The Neat software is easy to use and intuitive. Again, it is straight forward and I don’t have to do much thinking to figure it out.

Cons: The software, consistently, confuses zeros and eights after it has scanned a receipt. Sometimes, the receipt totals are completely wrong and this is because the software isn’t reading the total cost of the purchase but the total store points I have earned while shopping at a specific store. And since I have a marketing background, I find the scrolling bar colours confusing. They are grey and white. I never know if I’m scrolling down or up.

Regardless of NeatDesk’s hiccups, I do find the product useful. It is going to be good tool for me to get a handle on my family’s finances. And in a city such as Vancouver, Canada, it is exactly what I need!

Do you have any NeatDesk tricks you can share with me? Let me know at weeboot@gmail.com or on Twitter @weebootMom.