Mint can be a powerful tool when it comes to monitoring your finances. The service helps you track how much money you’re spending and on what, and alerts you when bills are due and when you might finally pay off your credit card.

While most Mint users know the basics, how to use the service to better manage their finances, there are a few features in Mint you might not be aware of. They might even to improve your bottom line.

Here are some of our favorite underutilized Mint features.

1. Tags

A lot of people use categories in Mint for expenses, but not everyone takes advantage of Mint’s tagging feature. Use tags in conjunction with categories for further organizing your expenses.

For instance, if you own two cars, you could tag each one to determine how much each automobile ends up costing you each year. Tagging all of your expenses with something like “Hawaii Trip” can help you see how much that vacation really cost, when everything is said and done. And tagging things like daycare expenses can come in handy when doing your taxes at the end of the year.

2. SMS Reminders

Mint has some pretty awesome apps for iPhone and Android, but if you don’t have a smartphone, you don’t have to miss out on the fun. Mint sends out weekly summaries via SMS for those who own Windows Phones or other handsets.

3. Built for Two

Weekly summaries aren’t limited to just one email address. If you share expenses with a spouse, partner or roommate, you can have a weekly summery sent to both of you by selecting the option from your Mint profile.

4. Track Your Net Worth

Mint isn’t just about liquid assets. The app can also track the value of things, such as major appliances, collectibles and cars, and add that number to your overall net worth. Mint also integrates with Zillow to track the value of your home.

5. Set Reminders

Always forget to pay that one bill? Mint lets you set up reminders for specific bills, so you never miss a payment.

6. Set Some Goals

If you have a financial goal, Mint can help you get there. For instance, say you’re trying to save for a new car or get out of debt. You can track payments going into a specific account you’ve designated to meet that goal.

7. Mobile Safety

Using Mint on your smartphone can be super convenient, but what if your phone is lost or stolen? In the event you and your phone part ways, you can disconnect your phone from your account, preventing others from accessing your financial information.

8. Split Up Transactions

You may choose to split a single transaction into multiple categories. For instance, if you go to Target and buy $ 100 worth of groceries and a $ 30 pair of shoes, you can file the $ 30 under clothing expenses and the $ 100 under your grocery categories, rather than lumping the two together.

9. Track Cash

Not just for credit transactions, you can also enter cash transaction into Mint and track those payments as well.

10. Port to Excel

If you need to track and document some of your information outside of Mint, download a CSV file and import that information into Excel.

What tips do you have for using Mint? Let us know some of your own tricks and unique ideas in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Oriol Lladó

A new play on Lorem Ipsum — that is, placeholder text for publishing and design — is getting the interwebz all hot and bothered.

Fifty Shades Generator is a website that automatically generates filler text inspired by the popular erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. Users simply click on the site’s “Generate more” button, and a paragraph of naughty text pops up on the screen.

“Slobbering like Augustus Gloop at Willy Wonka’s chocolate river” and “trembling like a short nun at a penguin shoot” are among the generator’s more family-friendly phrases. And believe us — those were difficult to find.

The site’s creators call on struggling authors to use the generator to enliven their books.

“Spice up your otherwise lacklustre novel with graphic sex scenes guaranteed to get your readers hot under the collar, and slightly sick in their mouths.”

Other creative dummy text generators include Bacon Ipsum and Gangsta Lorem Upsum. Check out the gallery below for more.

Image courtesy of Amazon