If you’re using the envelope system, it’s even easier. If you’re using a paper and pencil tracking system, you simply have to make manual calculations to see how much you’ve spent at a given point in time. Of course, you don’t have to use an online tool to manage to the numbers in your budget. This process of proactively managing to the numbers in your budget is essential to getting the most from the budgeting process. If you have a little more breathing space, you might pick up some extras. If you see that you’re close to your budgeted amount, you could focus only on the essentials on your list (you do use a list, don’t you?). Knowing that information before heading into the store can help guide your spending. You could be in the parking lot of a grocery store, for example, and in less than a minute check to see how much you’ve spent so far this month compared to your monthly groceries budget.

As long as you can connect to the Internet, you can see how your actual spending per category compares to the amount you planned to spend. One of the best benefits of using an online budget tool, such as, is the anytime/anywhere access it gives you to your latest numbers. It also helps you make sure you have enough money to cover costs and keep you moving toward your goals. In the same way, glancing at your budget throughout the month helps you stay within your spending limits. Glancing at your dashboard regularly as you drive helps you stay within the speed limit and make sure you have enough gas to get to where you’re going. Your budget serves the same role as the dashboard in your car. Managing to the numbers in your budget means looking at your budget frequently-perhaps as often as every day, or every time you spend money. However, in order to manage to the numbers in your budget, it’s essential to also review your budget during the month. That is a natural and good time for a review, and we’ll look at how to do a monthly review in a minute. Too often, people review how they’re doing with their budget only at the end of the month. But what happens when reality turns out differently than your plan? Step three in the budgeting process-reviewing-is all about monitoring that gap, dealing with it in the short-term, and making longer-term decisions that will narrow that gap. So far in this series on using the single most powerful tool for truly managing money (otherwise known as a budget!), we’ve looked at (1) planning and (2) tracking your use of money.

You need a budget 4 review