How to see all your money in one place

Most money stress comes down to one thing: you can't see it all in one place. It's scattered across a chequing account, two credit cards, a savings account, an old RRSP from a previous job, and a brokerage app you open twice a year, and no single screen tells you where you actually stand.

You can fix that in about fifteen minutes, no spreadsheet required.

Step 1: Get every account onto one screen (5 min)

List every place you keep or owe money: chequing, savings, credit cards, loans, investments. Then connect them in one tool so balances update on their own. In OnTheBuck you connect accounts read-only (we never see your password) or add any account manually if you'd rather stay offline. What you want out of this step: a single net worth number, and the accounts behind it.

Step 2: Let the last 90 days categorize themselves (5 min)

You can't budget what you can't see. Pull in recent transactions and let them sort into categories automatically. Where the auto-categorization gets something wrong, fix it once with a rule ("anything from this merchant is Groceries") and it stays fixed. This is the step that usually kills spreadsheets. With rules, it's a one-time chore.

Step 3: Set two or three budgets that matter (3 min)

Don't budget forty categories. Pick the two or three that actually move your month, usually groceries, eating out, and one lifestyle category. A few budgets you'll actually keep beat a perfect budget you abandon in a week.

Step 4: Look at cashflow, not just balances (2 min)

Balances tell you where you are. Cashflow tells you where you're going: money in vs money out, month over month. Once you can see it, the calls get easier. Which subscriptions to cut, whether this month has room for a big purchase, how much you can actually save.

That's the whole system

That's it: one screen, automatic updates, a few budgets you'll keep, and a cashflow view you trust. You can rebuild all of it in a spreadsheet if you enjoy the upkeep, or let a tool keep it current for you.

If you want the shortcut, OnTheBuck does all four steps out of the box, and it's free to start.