Graphs and the Calendar Make Life Easy
Graphs are good when they are easy to read and contain the information you want. That's why the graphs in the Personality Budgeting Program are so clear. The bars show how much you spent on bills. Red bars for last year and green for this year.
Here's what this graph is telling you. August is the big bill month. In August both this year and last year you had big expenses. (Since August in both years is high we can see that there are some big regular bills due then.) If you haven't been putting money away for bills due in August, there will be a time when you are short on cash.
If you wanted more details on the bills for any month, click on the month and you are taken to a screen that shows you were your money went. Let's look at May. May was an expensive month this year but not last year. Why?
When you clicked on the month of May you soon discovered that there was a large once off bill (to the plumber) that made the difference.
It's that easy! You use the graphs to get a quick overview of your year and see what to expect.
One glance at this graph and you'd think twice before taking on a big expense in August. You might consider June or July for when you could more easily pay an added bill.
The Calendar Shows All The Activity In A Glance!
Each green tick tells you that there has been activity and that the result is that there is still money in your bank account.
The calendar is a favorite place in the Personality Budgeting Program. It allows you to see what is happening with your money. The story becomes even more interesting when you look at the right side of the page. Here's where you can find what is happening in an event-by-event list. You can even compare this year to last year.
You may have noticed the red crosses in the bottom right section of the screen? This means that the account was overdrawn this time last year.
You can set the “safety limits”. The Red Cross is set to show if your balance is less than zero. Since going close to the limit of your bank account is unwise unless it is unavoidable there is an Orange Circle that shows if your account is low. To give you even more control you can change when these limits occur. In the lower left of the screen you see a button that says “Reset Limits”. This button allows you to set the limits as you wish. Yet again… you are in control!
BONUS: Print out the calendar and use it as the record for the month.