Monthly Budget

Three steps to your first month

1. Download a monthly statement for each of your accounts as a CSV (comma separated values) or Excel file.
   1. Log in to online banking and open an account.
   2. Pick the month you want, August for example.
   3. On the transaction list, look for Download, Export, Export statement, or Export transactions.
   4. Choose CSV or Excel as the format and save the file.
   5. Repeat for each account: chequing, credit cards, lines of credit, savings, investments.
   The steps differ a little from bank to bank, but a CSV or Excel file is what is needed. One file per account, so chequing plus two credit cards means three files. If an account offers no download, copy the rows from the screen and use Paste the rows below. No statements at all? Start by hand and type lines in as you go.
2. Drop the files below and name each account. The app asks what each file is (bank account, liability, or investment) and remembers next month. Import every account, because spending is counted where it happens: what you bought on the card comes from the card file, and the payment to the card from chequing is set aside so nothing counts twice.
3. Look at what's flagged. Anything the app had to guess about gets an orange Check marker with a note saying what it assumed. Confirm it or fix it once, and it remembers for every month after.

Nothing leaves this computer. No account, no internet, no upload.