A great way to master money management is to first know where your money is being spent. Once you can track where you’re spending your money, you can find ways to cut back and save where necessary. The Reports section in ClearCheckbook is a perfect way to make a step toward good money management.

Once you start entering transactions into ClearCheckbook, the Reports section will start to show you various charts and reports that help you visualize where your money is going. The reports are broken down by your accounts and spending categories.

The account reports show you your overall spending vs. saving, plus a breakdown of your spending vs. saving for each specific account. Below the reports are some information that show you how much you spent and saved each month so you can see whether you saved money or lost money that month. You also have the option of viewing your account reports as line charts (default) or bar charts.

Next are the category reports. There are a few different kind of reports within this section. The first one is the Line chart that shows your spending in all categories compared to each other. You can pick and choose which categories you would like to see visualized if you only want to compare a select group of categories. Below this is a textual representation of your spending in each category for the last 12 months. The category reports also feature pie charts that show percentages of your spending per category for each month. You can also view text only category reports that breakdown your spending even more.

There are also a lot of premium features available in the reports section. The most noticeable feature is the ability to view reports that go back as far as you have transactions. Without the premium membership you’re limited to the last 12 months. The premium membership also gives you access to some advanced reporting tools and a custom report generator that allows you to use the Search tool to create reports that are exactly tailored to your needs.

By actively adding transactions and monitoring your reports, you can get a real handle on your money management. Even if you feel like you are always saving enough money each month, you might be surprised when you realize just how much money you’re spending in certain areas. Cutting back on certain things to save more money is always good when it’s possible. Give the reports a try and get your money management under control.