MoneyBuckets Quick Start

The main menu comes up first when starting MoneyBuckets. This Quick Start will get you familiar with Accounts, Buckets, Deposits, and Payments. Other menu items are for later tutorials.

Just keep in mind, every penny from a Deposit goes into a Bucket just as every penny from a payment comes from a Bucket.

MoneyBuckets doesn't come with any accounts. So we can get started by clicking the +! icon to the right of the "List of Accounts" list box, entering the name of the account (Someplace Checking), and clicking Default or not, and then on Save. If you have more than one account repeat the process and click on Cancel or Close when finished.

All Deposits and Payments have to hit one account. Use one account or use one most frequently then you should click on "Default" which makes it come up first in all the forms.

Now that we have one or more accounts setup. Naturally we want to put some money into it. MoneyBuckets comes with two Buckets: Emergency Fund and Overflow. Emergency Fund is money to cover unexpected emergencies instead of using debt. Overflow is the Bucket that catches all the money left over (hopefully) from all the other buckets. Imagine a big bucket under the other buckets, as they get full the spill over falls in the Overflow Bucket.

To get start quickly without setting up a Budget or other Buckets we're going to create a deposit for either our Balance Forward or our inital deposit into a new account. Naturally it's very important to reconcile your existing accounts before creating a deposit to avoid making adjustments later to one lump sum of money. Below is a quick break down of the fields on the Deposit form.

Dep ID: Normally use this for the Deposit Type. DD=Direct Deposit. TRA=Transfer. ADJ=Adjustment. BF=Balance Forward. If you want to record your paycheck's check number you can do that too. Date: Deposit Date. Amt: Amount of the Deposit. Cleared: if it shows up on your bank statement or online check the box.

Once you hit Save the middle and bottom sections of the form are unlocked. Click on Add and you are taken to the bottom part of the form where you can select a Bucket from the drop down and enter the amount you'll be assigning to that bucket. If you don't have any other buckets can assign all of your deposit or balance forward to Overflow. If you have money set aside for an Emergency Fund then drop some money in there. Remember the Emergency Fund is for Emergencies so don't fund it too quickly if you need that money for something else.

If you need to make changes you can click on the Bucket list and modify the amount or in the Add: field you can add or subtract money without pulling out a calculator. Say you have $400 in that Bucket and need to take out $47.23. All you need to do is to type -47.23 in the Add: field and MoneyBuckets will handle the calc for you.

Depositing Money is great, but eventually we'll need to take some of it out. Now that expense can be for Investing or Savings it still leaves a Checking account just like a payment either through: a check, Money Order, Transfer, Electronic Funds Transfer, ATM, or a Debit Card Transaction. A Bucket's only purpose is to fill up and be poured out to cover an expense. Can think of Expenses as Fires, the Money in your Buckets helps put them out. Don't put out an expense and it often grows back with interest.

Some of the fields are the same from Deposits. We'll start off with the Trans#: which is often a check number, ATM (Automated Teller Machine), EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer), POS (Point of Sale or Debit Transactions), TRA (Transfer), etc. It's a short free form field. Date of the Payment and the Amt or amount. If the payment cleared your Bank then you can check the box. Payee should match whatever is written on the check or the location of where the transaction took place. If I entered an ATM transaction then I enter the bank name and street address. If it's a POS transaction then I enter the Store Name and Location. Account is where the Money is coming out of and Memo is free space to record what it was for, any relevant account info, or why you purchased something, etc. Just like Deposits once you hit Save other parts of the form open up.

Every penny of the Payment has to come from one or more Buckets. If you are starting quickly then everything has to come out of Overflow or your Emergency Fund. Budgeting takes time and if you need to dip into the Emergency Fund to cover your expenses that's fine. Just make sure you fill it back up as soon as possible. Thinking something bad is not going to happen is often a sure fire way to make sure it does.