I’m a numbers guy. I love data. Which probably explains why I went into IT. I am always analysing my personal data. When I want to get a new cellphone contract, I download my call records from my service provider and I use complicated formulae to determine my usage patterns so that I can choose the most cost effective package. I download my credit card transactions from my internet banking and I categorise them in a spreadsheet so that I can see a graph of how much I spend in each category.
But if I’m completely honest, I haven’t done those things in a while. It’s just too time consuming. Then 22Seven came along a couple of years ago, and I signed up straight away because it promised to do all that stuff for me, quickly and easily. I used it for a while, but I was an early adopter and there were some things I didn’t like about it so I stopped using it after a while. A while later they implemented a monthly fee for using the service, then the fee dropped to about half and then Old Mutual bought them and it became free. That was about all I knew until I got an email from 22Seven asking me if I would be prepared to try out their app.
Apps are cool. They are always (well, mostly) designed to be easy and quick to use. I could imagine that having 22Seven as an app would potentially be the key to analysing my income and expenditure without having to invest a ton of time. So I signed up. I’m trying out the app and I’ll be writing some blog posts about my experience as I go along.
I attended a briefing session where the introduced us to the app and explained what 22Seven is really about and what they are trying to achieve. Let me start by saying they have very cool offices. They are in the building where On Broadway was on Hout Street. In fact the presentation we attended was in the old theatre.
What 22Seven aims to do is reveal to people the realities of their spending habits. If you were to ask someone how much they spend on something every month, say buying coffees or fast food, or even how much they spend at Woolworths in a month, on average they would guess half the actual amount. So if someone is using 22Seven to categorise their spending, they can see at a glance exactly how much they spend on certain things. It’s a big wake up call for people to see the real numbers involved. Armed with the real facts about their income and expenditure, a person can start to make some choices about how they spend their money. Those choices can lead to some substantial savings. In other words, 22Seven will help you find money you didn’t think you had.
In my next post I will give some feedback on the usability of the app. How easy is it to add accounts, does it support all the banks, is it easy to categorise transactions and get reports, etc…
If you want to join me on this adventure, download the app (Android or iOS) and if you’re keen to share your feedback on your experience, leave comments on my posts.
This is a sponsored post.