| Step | Example | Hint | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) | Download | ||
| 2) | Install and Run | ||
| 3) | Create Monthly Budget (optional) | Income Budget: • Salary • Bonuses • Benefits Expense Budget: • Every Day • Entertainment • Shopping • Bills • Car • Charity • etc. | This is important step. Take some time. Think about how you want to track your expenses. Try to fit all your expenses into 10 or less high-level Budget Categories (5-7 is ideal). Fewer Budget Categories will help you stay focused. We suggest separating variable expenses from fixed expenses. • Variable expenses are entertainment, shopping, etc. You can control such spending • Fixed expenses (bills, mortgage, gym, etc.) will occur every month no matter what you do. You would need to change your lifestyle (switching to a cheaper cell phone provider or canceling your club membership) to find savings. Note: You can adjust your Budget Categories later. And you will definitely do so once you build some history and learn your spending habits. |
| 4) | Set up Accounts | • Checking • Saving • Credit Cards • Wallet or Cash • etc… | Everyday debit accounts are set up in the top portion of the Account screen. Credit cards are set up in the lower half of the screen. Everything else can be set up as Investment Account. Note: Check Transactions screen to see how many accounts fit on your screen without scrolling to the right. You might want to combine accounts together for simplicity if you have too many. Use Account Groups to show/hide certain accounts. |
| 5) | Enter / Import Transactions | • Income • Expense • Transfer • Reimbursement • Savings • Investment | Once you have set up your Accounts and Income / Expense Budget Categories you can enter your transactions. The easiest way is to upload transactions from your bank statements. Go to your online banking and download statements in Excel/CSV format Note: If you want to understand your spending habits – upload last month or two of transactions. You may choose to round everything to 5 or even 10 dollars. |
| 6) | Review Budget Dashboard (optional) | Budget Dashboard displays month over month Budget for a year | Here you can review how much you have spent this month and how it compares to previous months. |
| 7) | Set up Scheduled Transactions (optional) | • Bills • Credit Card due date payments • Paychecks | Scheduled Transactions serve two purposes: 1) Eliminate unnecessary data entry. Typical household has 30%-40% of transactions that occur every month. 2) Provide cash forecast. Moneyble will not only show you how much money you have today but also how much you will have on any given day within the next month. You will see if you are going to be low on cash and when you will have funds available for new investments. This is especially useful to keep credit cards under control and generate due date payment reminders. |
Excel Spending Tracker with Mobile Phone Transaction Entry