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Budgeting sometimes requires notebooks, checkbooks, and all that paper stuff. So what do you use when you handle all of your banking online? You started online banking to stop the paper, so why start it again?
Things You Need for an Online Budget
- Your Computer
- Number manipulation program (aka Excel)
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You can export data from your bank and play around so much better with a numbers program like that.
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Don’t want to pay? OpenOffice.org
- Online Money Management program (aka Money or Quicken)
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Best place to start is your financial institution. Give them a call and see which they integrate with and go from there.
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Be sure that what you buy is able to integrate with your online
banking, each has different version levels and some don’t support
online integration.
- List of recent bills (or your logons to the accounts)
- Our Personal Budget Setup Instructions (you’ll want to print this out)
- Sample Excel Budget Sheet
Online Budgeting Tips
Be realistic with your numbers, and always over exaggerate.
Your overages will collect over time in your buckets and allow you to save even more. AND... it pads your bank account so that you no longer have that moment of "Oh jelly beans, I have $4 in my bank account!"
Get in the habit of balancing your checkbook as often as you check your email (ok, maybe just once every few days). You'll have a better idea of what you have to spend. REMEMBER - only use what you have designated as Spending Money, not your account balance.
Categorize all transactions. This helps you analyze your spending and makes your budget more concise. Think you need only $100/wk of spending money? If you’re spending $500 a month on things that aren't accounted for, you need to rethink your spending or budgeted items.
Remember, NO month is perfect. We all have those random expenses that you need to dip into that savings for; just don’t make it a habit.
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Budgeting 
