Speedy start your OOTD budget

If you do not want to spend too much time on reading right now and are keen on finding the shortest path to seeing your budget up and running now, then this page is for you.  Here we provide a point form action plan to build your OOTD budget without getting into lengthy explanations, which are plentiful on other pages in this blog.

This guide assumes that you have just created your new OOTD budgeting account, logged in and are looking at your new budget all set with zeros.

First thing first, sit back and take the OOTD User’s Visual Tour now to familiarize yourself with your OOTD budget screens and functions, from your budget page click the tour link in the yellow message box if you have not yet set your budget or from the Using OOTD menu option at any time.

Preparation

1. Gather the amounts of all your income per month or per year, everything you make.
2. Gather the amounts of all the expenses in your life (review the  default budget categories quickly as a reminder).
3. Take a moment to think about and decide what your budgeting period is.  It is normally the same as your pay period which is normally monthly around the world.  Notice that while you will find many references to a monthly budgeting period around the OOTD website, you are free to use any budgeting period that works for you.  If your pay period is weekly or bi-weekly, you can have that as your budgeting period here.  For simplicity sake this guide will use the monthly example.

Applies to the Master Budget column on the left

1. Review all the budget categories offered here out of the box, and change all those that are not applicable to you into whatever you need by clicking the small question mark icon and entering a different category name and description text.
2. Once you are happy with your set of budget categories, click the Save button at the bottom of this column.


Save settings

3. Observe the other small icons between the two columns, these determine how the green column is reset for each new tracking period.
   

   Autocopy icons

   The arrow means that the budgeted amount on the left will be copied over to the green column on the right, while the red X means that this category on the green column will be set to zero.  For categories that are normally stable and are unlikely to change from month to month like insurance, income, mortgage, set the arrow for a copy over to save you the manual entry of the same amount for each period.  For categories that you track and monitor each period not knowing what they will be like restaurants, food, entertainment, set the red X to start as zero.  Click those small icons to toggle them, and once done for all the categories, click the Save button again at the bottom of this column.

4. On this column now enter all the amounts you have for your income under the Cash In block and for all your expenses under the Cash Out block, and when done click the save button again.  If you have annual figures for items like insurance, income, etc, and are using a monthly budgeting period, you may enter the annual figures by inserting the letter – a – in front of the number like a59670.  This will be consider as $59,670 annually and will be divided by 12 and the monthly result saved when you click the Save button.
5. Review the totals at the top of this column, and if your budget shows over-spending, go back and make adjustments until you are happy with the budget that you pledge to live by.
6. With your master budget all set and saved, you are ready to start monitoring and tracking on the green column.  Click the Reset link on the right hand side of your budget page.
   

   Reset link

   This will reset the green column for tracking your cash flow during your first budgeting period.   You will be taken to the page for closing a period and resetting for a new period. Since for your first time you will not be closing a period and only care to reset the green column for the new period, disregard what is said on this page this time and only click the option at the bottom to reset without closing, then click the option to Close and Reset .   Your green column is ready to monitor and track this period.

Applies to the green column on the right

1. There is one setting on the green column that you can make before starting to use it for your periodical income and expense tracking.  Cash put aside management is built into your green column as a component of the Cash Put-Aside Manager.  Notice that  your new account default category set comes with three categories that show the  icon next to them.  These categories are set by default for you as items designated for cash put aside, being classic examples of the type of categories that you would normally want to put some cash aside for annual expenditures like car insurance.  Whether you customized your categories or just want to change or cancel this default cash put aside setting, simply click the icons next to the green fields on the right hand side to set/unset this designation.  Be sure to save your green column via the Save button at the bottom to keep all your changes in the system.  Once you are all set with this, you can use the Cash Put-Aside Manager page via the link on the right hand side of your budget columns.
   

   Cash Put-Aside Manager link

2. Once you have completed all the steps above, log into your OOTD budgeting account daily if you can or every 2 or 3 days and record on the green column all your current spending and income if applicable in the appropriate categories.  You can do in-field math by adding new amounts to existing amounts like 117+84 where 117 was the existing amount and you wanted to add 84 to it, when you click the save button the result is calculated and entered for you.  You can also take advantage the two “Catch All” Transactional categories identified with a small icon to the right of the green column field to itemize entries for the “Other Expenses” or “Additional Income” categories. Clicking inside these fields will open the transactions entry window.
3. On the last day of the month ensure that your green column is fully up to date reflecting all your monthly cash in and cash out, then click the link to generate the end of month report (just above the Reset link).
4. After confirming that your report is in your e-mail, make sure that your master budget grey column on the left is up to date (if for example your salary changed, this is the time to update the master budget grey column) be sure to save your changes in the grey column (always work on one column at a time and save before moving to the other column) and then click the Reset for a new month link again to close your budgeting period and reset the green column again and start tracking your cash flow for the new month. This time however, on the close period and reset page you enter the end of period date to close your budgeting period, do not check the option to only reset without closing. Closing a period always resets the green column as well by default.
5. Visit your OOTD budget account daily or every few days to record on the green column all that you paid out as you go through the month, making sure that all your actual cash flow for the month is recorded on the green column.
6. Repeat the same cycle for each month saving your monthly reports as you go so that you can go back and review your monthly surpluses and deficits to know exactly where your money goes and to make decisions that will help you live within your means and predict what you can and cannot afford in the near future.
7. With a few budgeting periods closed you can start enjoying the My Money Tree feature where pictorial representation of your financial health are available for all your closed periods. Simply click the link on the right hand side to use this feature.

That is basically all you need to do to have the kind of budgeting in your life that can save you from the debt prison and pave the way for your financial health and freedom. Remember to close every month with the report and start a new month as explained above because budgeting is meaningless if you don’t stick with it and live by it. With this you will find amazing power in seeing what you can and cannot afford to spend and how much money you can expect to have or save each month. Be sure to adjust your master budget grey column each time amounts change in your life like your income or rent, mortgages, etc. Remember that every amount in your budget must reflect your financial reality at any given time, so as soon as things change, go to your budget and change the relevant amounts accordingly.

In no time budgeting will become second nature and a way of life that will put significant power in your hands and allow you to be in control of your hard earned money as you direct your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Knowledge is power and tools of the trade are strength. Once you broke the ice so-to-speak with OOTD and are comfortable using it as your private money management tool, you can start taking advantage of all the other features that can further empower you over your money, such as Money Bucket Accounts to manage your loans and savings outside your budget. OOTD was designed with user friendliness in mind making it easy to find all the features and online context sensitive help and guidance right where you would expect them.

Still have questions? You can post your questions to the OOTD users community in the Users Billboard from any page footer, or you may send your inquiries directly to OOTD via the Contact menu (must be logged in). You may also read other OOTD blog pages here and leave your comments on any page.

Happy budgeting.

Shony