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Money Tree Help And Support
If you need to contact someone about a problem involving your key or difficulty using the program use one of the links below:
2. Quick Start GuideIf you haven't watched the video on the front page (www.moneytreebudgeting.com) we recommend you do that first as it contains everything written in this quickstart guide.Getting Started With Money Tree - Seedling EditionMoney tree was designed from the start to be simple and straightforward. We took every element that goes into running a successful month to month budget and put it into our software. Following the three simple steps in this quickstart guide will have you creating and managing your budget in less than 20 minutes!Step 1: Setting Up Your BudgetThe first part of setting up your budget is to have all of your expenses and incomes ready to input. You can set your starting balance by editing the actual income for the "Current Cash On Hand" item that is already set up for you. To start creating your budget click the "Add Budget Item" button. Next select the type of item you are adding and set a name for the item. Put in the amount you will pay at one time and then select the frequency you will pay that amount each month. If you didn't choose daily as a frequency then you must set a due date as well.Each type of budget item can be used to represent different kinds of expenses:
Step 2: Setting Your GoalsYou should have a few goals in your budget as well. Such as putting money in your savings account, or saving money to buy a car. Setting a goal is easy and straight forward. First click the "Add Budget Goal" button, this will open up the goal creation window.Set a name for your goal and then set the amounts for your goal. You only need to set 2 numbers and the 3rd will be calculated automatically. So if you set that you want to save $500 every month for 12 months, it will automatically set your total to $6,000. You could also do the reverse and say you want to save $6,000 in 12 months, or that you want to save $6,000 and pay $500 a month. You can always pay more or less for your goals each month. The "Months To Go" column will automatically update to tell you how much time is left in your plan based on how much you've already paid. When you meet your goal your actual number will turn green, you can then either edit it, keep putting money into it, or delete it. Step 3: Keeping Your Budget Up To DateMoney Tree's Automatic Budget Buddy will help you keep your budget up to date (Windows Users Only). The budget buddy runs every time you start your computer and will remind you on days when you have items due. Just click the reminder to open the Budget BuddyThe Automatic Budget Buddy is only for posting payments and balancing your net cash. You can either set you paid the full amount or a different amount in the update field for each item. Once you update an item you will no longer receive any notifications for the rest of the day. You can also balance your net cash, just enter how much money you actually have and the Budget Buddy will create an income or expense on your budget to make up the difference. This will allow you to track your spending without keeping track of every single transaction. The first time you open Money Tree in a new month it will automatically create your budget for that month. Money Tree will give you a prompt when you open it for the first time in a new month to remind you it has carried your budget over. You will have your net cash from last month automatically added to your budget and all of your actual spending will be set back to zero. Any one-time items from the previous month will no longer be on your budget. You can see your previous months' budgets in the "Your Budget Timeline" tab If you missed some items in the last few days of the month, don't worry about it, just open up your budget timeline and click one of the points for that month. This will open up your previous budget and allow you to edit it in anyway you wish. This is a great way to see your past months! 3. Your Budget WorksheetThe budget worksheeet is where you enter your income and expense information. The worksheet will organize you information into a color coded, simple to understand, visual representation of how you spend your money.Creating A Budget ItemA budget item represents an expense or a source of income, such as your car payment or your pay check. The budget worksheet will help you organize and keep track of all your expenses and sources of income. This is how you add an item:
Editing A Budget ItemAll budget items can easily be changed if you decided that the information displayed is incorrect. Here is how to edit them:
Updating Your Actual SpendingBudgeting is all about carrying through with your plan. Money tree lets you do this by updating your actual spending versus your planned spending, here's how to do it:
Deleting A Budget ItemBudget items can be easily deleted from the budget worksheet if you decide that the item is no longer a part of your budget. Deleting an item is irreversible.
Clearing the WorksheetThe entire budget worksheet can be easily cleared if you decide to start you budget from scratch. This will only clear the current month, and not previous months. If you wish to start a new budget click File > New.
4. Your Goals WorksheetThe Goals Worksheet allows you to create fixed cost goals. You should always save money, and having a savings plan is the best way to make sure you do it. A goal is as simple as saving $500 for 12 months, you can then track your progress quickly and easily in Money Tree.Creating A GoalCreating a goal is quick and easy, you simply set a name for your goal and enter in two of the three fields in the prompt. The hard part is deciding what your goal is!
Editing A GoalChanging goal items is easy, here is how you do it:
Posting A PaymentPosting Payments is how you track your progress towards meeting your goal, it's a simple process:
Deleting A GoalIf you have met your goal, or decide to get rid of it completely, you may wish to delete it.
Clearing The WorksheetTop Text
5. Your Budget StatisticsThe budget statistics tab gives you an overall look at how you spend your money by expense type. This tab should be used if you want to see a visual representation of your budget, or view exactly how much you spend in each category.Your Planned Budget AllocationThis graph shows you how much of your planned budget is allocated to each category, this is a simple and effective way of relating your spending to your income visually. The graph pictured below is an example of how an ideal budget might look, you can see that the plan has about 15% leftover cash and only 48% of planned expenses committed to bills and debt. Your Actual Budget AllocationThis graph illustrates how much you've actually spent, it's the same representation as your planned budget. Making sure your actual spending is close to your planned spending is the key to successful budgeting. Your Budget BreakdownThis table shows you how your exactly how your spending is split over multiple categories. The difference column gives you the exact difference between your actual and planned for each category. The yearly actual - planned column multiplies your actual and planned expenses by 12 so you can see how much you'd spend per year with your current budget. This table is essential to understanding your long term cash flow and where you can change your spending. 6. Your Budget TimelineThe budget timeline is designed to show you how well you stick to your budget over time. The graph shows you your actual income versus actual expenses versus planned expenses. Clicking any point on the graph will open that months budget, if you click the current month it will take you back to your previous budget. With a previous budget open you can edit any of the items or actual numbers, but you cannot add new items to that budget.Your TimelineThis graph illustrates your budget and expenses over time. Therefore you'll have to use Money Tree for a few months to build up a history. Once your history is built you will be able to see a very clear picture of your budgeting practices. Click any point on the graph to open that month's budget for reference or editing. Viewing and Editing A Past BudgetClicking a point on the timeline that isn't the current month will open a budget like the one below. You can then view, edit, update, and delete the budget items as you would on the budget worksheet. This is useful to correct any errors in previous months. 7. Automatic Budget BuddyThe Automatic Budget Buddy is one of the best features of Money Tree. It is only available to Windows Users. If you have any items due on a specific date the Budget Buddy will remind you and allow you to mark the payments for each item without having to launch Money Tree. This will let you to easily keep tabs on your budget as time goes on.Enabling and DisablingYou can enable and disable the Budget Buddy in Money Tree under the Edit Menu.Automated RemindersEveryday that you have a budget item due Money Tree will send a small alert to remind you that items are due. You can then click the prompt to enter your payments in a convenient popup. You can either click that you paid the item in full, you did not pay the item, or that you wish to enter a different amount. This will edit your budget directly. You only need to start Money Tree if you need to edit your budget or just want to take a look at it.Monthly RolloversThe Budget Buddy will remind you the last few days of the month that your month is almost over, this will allow you to wrap up your budget for that month and get prepared to start your next month. When the month ends your budget will automatically roll over to the next month with all of your actual spending set back to zero.
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