Budget Items are categories into which money can be collected. This aid you in creating a budget for your finances. Budget Items serve something like "virtual accounts", because the money is actually stored in one or more real Accounts in Budgetizer.
You can think of Budget Items sort of like envelopes. You might have a Budget Item called "Rent", and a Budget Item called "Groceries", for example. Then, when you receive money, some of that money might go into the "Rent" Budget Item, and some of it into the "Groceries" Budget Item. Using the envelope example, when you receive cash, you might put some of the cash into an envelope labeled "Rent", and some of it into an envelope labeled "Groceries". Click here to learn about how Budget Rules can help you do this.
The beauty of the Budget Item system is that even though money might be listed in different Budget Items,
it does not have to be physically separated like it would if you were using actual envelopes. When you divide
your money up into envelopes, the money cannot be in an account earning interest. Also, in emergencies, you
do not have your money easily accessible.
With the Budget Item system, money that exists in your Budget Item may actually be in an interest-bearing
account, or it may be in the form of cash, or it could come from several Accounts
at once. The point is that you can easily separate the concepts of managing your money, and managing your
budget.
Budget Items can be managed using the Budget Items Screen.
See also: The Budget Items Screen, Budget Rules, The Budget Rules Screen,