Simple Budgets BasicsLists and List Items- Simple Budgets uses a system of Budget Lists, at least one list must exist.
- Each List contains List Items that you define inside a List
- List Items are used to track your expenses or income and are added one at a time
- Each List Item contains expense or income Details that you configure when you add a new list item.
- List Item Details can be expanded on the settings screen of Simple Budgets, you can add your own:
- Expense Types - intended to represent expense categories, such as Actual Costs, Billable or Non-Billable Expenses (which are categories commonly used for Expense Reports), Income, Refund. Expense Types control if the item is an Income item, or an Expense Item, i.e. is money coming into the list, or out? You could use Expense Types to define items such as Paychecks or other Income Payments, Expected and Unexpected Expenses, etc...
- Item Types - What kind of Item was this? Pre-defined types include Airfare, Food, Fuel, Gifts, Office Equipment, Rent, etc... Item types simply assist in categorizing where money is being spent.
- Payment Types - Visa, Debit Card, Cash, etc.. Payment Types define how the item was paid for, or where the money came into.
ReportsSimple Budgets contains a set of easy to use and read Reports that assist you in seeing where and how your money was spent for a given list. How was your budget used over time? What payment types were used for the money on this list?
SettingsLastly, Simple Budgets allows you to customize all of the expense types, item types and payment types as well as adjusting the budget value of a given list.
Simple Budgets for iPadThe iPad interface is designed to consolidate all common tasks into a single window or view. The configured lists appear in the split view (on the leftmost panel when viewing your iPad in Landscape mode) or are accessed through the "Lists" toolbar button when looking at your iPad in Portrait view.
Landscape View  The Landscape View on the iPad allows you to see both the currently selected List (shown in the far left panel), the lists' Items (shown in the middle of the view) and the item details and list report. (From the right top down, the list budget and spending details, right middle is the currently selected item details, and the bottom right is the currently selected list report. Portrait View  The Portrait View on the iPad hides the "Lists" and focuses on the List Items and List Details/List Reports. You can access the "Lists" popover view by clicking on the "Lists" toolbar button, which will display all of the configured lists, as well as the currently selected list:  Here you can see the Lists popover, with the add list (+) control as well as the currently selected list, and the list details.
Deleting Lists and ItemsTo delete a list or a list item, use the "Swipe" gesture on any list or list item to have the iPad display the Delete button on the item you swiped, as shown below: Editing List ItemsYou can edit any selected list item by selected the "Edit Item" toolbar button which will enable the item's fields to become active. You can click into any of the edit boxes to change the Item Name, Value or Memo fields, and clicking on any of the details buttons will show the detail popup, which will allow you to alter the item's individual details.
Changing the Current ReportYou can change the current report at any time by clicking the "Report" toolbar button, which will display all of the currently supported report types, as shown below: By selecting a report type, Simple Budgets will update the Report area with the newly selected report for the currently selected list. For Example, the Expenses by Type Report for this list would display the following report: Adjusting the App's SettingsSimple Budgets supports the ability to adjust all of the categories and types as well as adjust any lists's budget details. To access the Application's Settings, click on the "Settings" toolbar button, which will show the settings window: The first setting is for the Lists, select any list from the available lists in the lower selection box, which will allow you to edit any of the details pertaining to that given list.
If you change between Item Types, Expense Types, or Payment Types you will be allowed to add a new type to those categories. For Example, here is the Expense Types add page. If you fill in the type's text box then click on the + will add a new type to your list. Note: Currently, only the ability to add new types is supported. You cannot remove any of the default types for any list. Simple Budgets for iPhoneThe iPhone interface is designed as a hierarchical table view, meaning at the topmost view you will see all of the lists you have configured. When you tap on a list, the list items will be shown, along with information on your list budget, how much has been spent, and how much is remaining for your configured budget. |