TUTORIAL

This tutorial document is made to facilitate the understanding of the Green Pig software and follows a particular outline. Green Pig is simple to use and you can jump into many outline areas and have fun while learning the software. Just click on the outline section you want to jump to.

It is recommended that before you start using the program you print a copy of this document. A hard copy will be very helpful once you start using Green Pig and will make your learning experience easy when you are practicing. This document does not include any screen shots since it is intended to guide you through a live software experience.

Before accessing the Green Pig you need to register.  It is a very simple process that will take you just few minutes of your time. However, before even registering we suggest that you take a little time to get to know the start up process described after the outline.

The Green Pig was designed and created to be easy to use and intuitive.  Still, the software is challenging and will require a basic computing understanding such as for email and MS Word. While most people will understand the software quickly, others will need a little more time.  In case of need or want we have live coaches standing by to help.  Send an email at any time with a question or a short description of your problem.  Someone will get back with you promptly by email or by phone if you prefer.  The email address is greenpigcoach@gmail.com.

Now access the Green Pig.  The starting place is to get registered.  Go to www.greenpigsoftware.org.  If you use “.com” that is OK too.  This will take you to what is called the “landing page” or “home page” for the software.  You will see a variety of things to look at before registering to use the software.  Go ahead and play around.  You can’t mess up.

GETTING READY STUFF

Edit Accounts:

You will use Edit Accounts such as adding a new checking account in INCOME where you clicked on Add/Edit. Edit Accounts is where new accounts are added and/or existing accounts edited.  These are very important capabilities of the Green Pig.  It will be referred to in several locations of this document. For now just know this exists. For all of these you add beginning data and all can be changed later if such is needed.

Edit Credit Cards – for entering your beginning credit card data.

Edit Set Aside Accounts – for entering beginning data for your set asides such as savings, holidays, college education, emergencies, etc.

Edit Profile – the place to change your name, password, and email if you have reason to do this.

 

Date Range Selector: Return to Contents

Balances are just that - balances. Across the bottom of the INCOME, EXPENSE, and TRANSFER screens are drop downs with various balances. From left to right they are Checking, Set Aside, Cash, Credit Balance, Credit Available, and I Owe. Let’s first mention Checking. What is shown is the total such as the total for all checking accounts. Click on the down arrow and see the names of all checking accounts that have been set up. Click on one and see its specific balance. The other "balances" work the same way. Credit card available simply means the difference between a credit cards limit and the amount of its balance, i.e., how much is left that can be used.

THE EVERYDAY STUFF USED OFTEN

INCOME: Return to Contents

 

Income From: Click on the down arrow in the circle. The first time you login in all that you will see are “From” and “Add/Edit”. The Add/Edit is how you enter your specific names for where your income is coming from. Click on Add/Edit and up pops a new window. Where it says “Enter New Income From”, type in a name and then click Enter.  Do this for as many sources of income that you want to enter. When finished click on Enter.   Now with your selection list click on the one you want to use for recording a particular Income.

 

Income Placed In:  Again click on the down arrow in the circle. At the time of your fist login you will see these words in black: Checking, Set Aside, Cash, Credit Card, I Owe, and Add/Edit.  You will want to add the names of your checking accounts such as Wells Fargo; for Set Aside names like Savings, 401K, Daughters Wedding, tithing, etc.; for the others follow the same pattern.  To  do this click on Add/Edit.  This new window is titled “Select an account type from the left hand margin".

 

Click on “Select Type” and a drop down appears with Checking, Set Aside, Cash, Credit Card, and I Owe.  Click on one. Click on “Enter New Reserved Word Name” and type in a name such as Capital One for a credit card name.  Click on “Enter Balance” and enter the current balance on this credit card.  Also for a credit card click on “Enter Available” for the amount still available to use on a credit card. Then click “Add”.  When finished, click on “Close”.

 

Here is something important to note. The names you entered show up in blue color. We call these reserved words.  That means that they will affect other calculations in the Green Pig. For example if you pay for groceries at Wal-Mart with a Capital One credit card that cards balance is adjusted accordingly.

 

Add: At this point in time you are ready to record your first income transaction so click on “Add” and it will appear in the register in the bottom half of the screen.

EXPENSES: Return to Contents

Money Paid From:  Click on the down arrow in the circle. In black letters you see From Checking, From Credit Card, From Cash, From Set Aside, and Add/Edit. In blue letter you see the reserved words that were entered in “Income Placed In” in INCOME. These blue reserved words were automatically inserted here. Pick the one you want to use for a particular expense recording. Like mentioned previously these are all reserved words. To add more, just follow the same pattern as before. Click on “Add/Edit”. Click on “Select Type”; click on “Enter New Reserved Word”; click on “Enter Balance”; and finally click on “Add”. When finished click on “Close”.

Note that if you clicked on a checking account name to pay from, the choices of Debit and Check number appear. If you are using a debit card click on it. If a check and you want to record the check number, type in a check number.

Note in several places in the GP there are red X’s. This means delete. If you want to delete something click this X. It will ask if you are sure.

Note there is something called “in line editing”. Often you can double click on a name or number and change it directly at that spot. It will ask you to give a new name or number and then ask for confirmation that it is OK to change.

 

Money Paid To:  Click on the down arrow. This will be a mix of reserved and non-reserved words. The reserved words coming from Money Paid From and from I Owe are shown in blue. All others are in black. An example of I Owe in blue might be for a boat. An example of Money Paid To in black might be Target. To add a non-reserved word to the drop down list use the “Add/Edit” just like before.

 

If money is paid to a “blue” word more data is asked for. The additional data is amount of the payment that goes to principal, to interest and to fees. The amount to principal reduces the amount of principal due and the interest and fees appears in the list of expenses.

 

When you pay principal on a reserved word in “Money Paid To” (e.g., credit card or I Owe) the amount paid in for principal shows up as a TRANSFER in the transfer ledger and the balances in a credit card or I Owe are updated.  The rational is that what you originally bought was an expense at that time and should not be expensed again.  For example what you bought with a credit card had already been entered as an expense(s). 

 

Money Used For:  Click on the down arrow.  This is the place to record what money was spent for.   This is divided between Categories and each have Subcategories.  The Green Pig provides a default set of categories and subcategories but these are easily changed or added to. A Category might be something like Auto and it can have Subcategories such as gas, insurance, and repairs.  Recording an expense can only be done using subcategories.  So first click on a category which opens another drop down and then click on a subcategory within that category.

 

To change, add, or delete a category or subcategory click on the “Add/Edit” in the drop down. In this new window note the need to select between “Edit Categories” and “Edit Subcategories of”. 

 

TRANSFER: Return to Contents

The purpose of “Transfer” is to transfer money from one account to another.

 

Date:  See INCOME.

 

Transfer Money To:  Click the down arrow.  All the reserved words previously entered for Checking, Credit Cards, Cash, I Owe and Set Aside will appear.  As is true throughout,  you can click on “Add/Edit” to add something new.

AT THIS POINT YOU HAVE ENTERED INCOME, EXPENSE AND TRANSFER TRASACTIONS.  NOW YOU CAN BEGIN TO SEE AND REVIEW YOUR NUMBERS.

LOOK BACK: Return to Contents

Look Back is for visualizing past data.

Time Selector: The Green Pig works on the basis of 12 month periods. You pick the months to display by “grabbing” one month and “dragging” the cursor across to a point and dropping it.  For example, if you want to see March through August, “grab” March and holding down the mouse key “drag” across to August and release the mouse key (drop).  You can go left to right, right to left, or highlight selected months.

 

Choose Display: Clicking on an item in the “tree” displays that data, e.g., clicking on Payee shows the data by Payee.

 

Bar Chart or Pie Chart: There is an icon for bar chart and one for pie chart.  Click the one you want to see. For expenses, a specific bar or piece of pie can be clicked to “drill down” to the next level. Clicking a  subcategory bar or pie piece takes you to a data listing of individual expense records.

At the top of the bar charts for Expenses by Category and Expenses by Payee note the buttons called “Top 15”, “Previous 15”, and Next “15”. About 15 items is the maximum number of items for an attractive bar chart.

 

At the bottom left of the pie charts note the buttons called Top 5, Top 10 and Top 15.  Click those to display what is wanted. At the bottom right are label buttons named “$” and “%”.  If data expressed in dollars are wanted click the “$” button and the “$” button for display of data as percentages.

Last Month, Last 12 Months, All Time:  Note these links in the upper right corner. These let you choose between these instead of using the Time Selector.

 

Print:  Some people like to have hard copies whether for actual numbers of data entered or charts.  Clicking  “Print” lets you do that.

AS IS THE CASE THROUGHOUT THE GREEN PIG, JUST PLAY AROUND AND THINGS BECOME VERY INTUITIVE  IN TERMS OF NAVIGATION.

LOOK AHEAD: Return to Contents

Look ahead is for budgeting or preparing a spending plan for the future. LOOK AHEAD has a lot of flexibility as you will see.

Time Selector:  Same as for LOOK BACK.

Choose Categories:  This “tree” lets you choose sources of income and expense subcategories (not categories) to display.

Leftover Bar Chart:  The first charts seen after clicking on LOOK AHEAD are like a split screen.  The upper  bar chart is a “Leftover Bar Chart”. Leftover means income minus expenses and minus set asides such as for a new car or a 401k savings account.

What If Table: The lower table is the place to put income and expenses that are expected in the future, i.e., a budget.

 

Here is how it works.  It is a lot like playing a game where the goal is to find income and expenses such that leftover you never go into the red, i.e., never a month with a zero or with a negative leftover.

 

Alternatively, notice the window in the lower right hand corner that is Replace With. Click on a cell(s), type a number in the “Replace With” window and click on Apply. This is a little cumbersome to explain in words but very intuitive in reality. Everybody gets it quickly.

 

Now start doing the same for expense names.  Start by choosing those expenses which are discretionary, i.e., you can change them in contrast to apartment rent which might be fixed per month for a full year. 

 

When you have a few (less than 7) expenses that you think are about right, then click on Save. Vice versa, to delete any changes showing in the table click on Clear Changes. Up to 7 expenses can be “played with” at a time. To delete an item from the table simply “unclick” it in the tree.

Keep playing the game until you have income and expenses such that you can reasonably get through each month in the green vs. in the red.  Of course, when budgeting, you should take into consideration Set Asides for emergencies, special events, savings, etc.

Switch Between Bar Chart and a Table:  Notice the icons representing a bar chart and a table right beside the words “What If Table”. The screen you saw when you first clicked on LOOK AHEAD was the default. Now click on the line chart icon. Now the bottom table is replaced with a line chart. Note the tabs above the line chart. These tabs are labeled with the names of income and expenses that you have been working with  The line chart will draw a line for each tab (one at a time). To draw a line for other tabs just click on another tab. These lines are draggable. Grab a data point for a month or grab the entire line and drag it up and down to see the affect on the above Leftover Bars.

Just like with the table, you can choose “Save Changes” and “Clear Changes”.

Switch Between Bar Chart and Table: There is more. To the right of the words Leftover Bar Chart are two icons.  One is for the default bar chart and one for a table. As is true everywhere you can jump back and forth as you wish.

 

If you click on the table icon, you get a lot more information. Now there is Base Leftover, What If Leftover, Base Expenses, What If Expenses, Base Income, What If Income, Base Set Aside, and What If Set Aside. Base means what existed before some What If changes occurred. 

 

Current Full Budget:  in the bottom left hand corner of the above charts is a button called “Current Full Budget”. Clicking it displays a complete table for all income, expense, and set aside items.  This is for those who like an Excel like experience.

 

Many of the cells will be empty since it includes all the expense categories and subcategories that were available to pick from in EXPENSES. When a cell is empty (no data) it shows a dash. Notice the Hide Dashes button. Clicking it hides all rows that are empty. Notice also that no numbers appear for categories. Mouse over that line though and they are shown.

The addition and changes of cell numbers is just like with the What If table.  The Save Changes and Clear Changes are also the same.