When you enter the expenditure figure for the current expense category you can choose the time period which is most relevant or meaningful for this particular category. The program will then calculate an annual figure which will appear in the budget tree. Here are a few examples:

The amount given above is from a user's typical monthly phone bill. Based on this figure, the program calculates an average annual expenditure of $3000 on phone calls. Notice the check box in the budget tree entry which indicates that this is an essential expense.

The next example shows how to represent expenses which occur over shorter, non-standard time periods:

In this case the average annual expenditure on cigarettes is $1,277.50. (The first time one sees an annual figure can be a salutary experience,)

Note: The number of decimal places was increased to 2 (in User Preferences/Currency Options) to handle the cents.


The third example shows an expense catgeory that doesn't rise with inflation (indicated by the check box). This is only relevant when in calculating the expenditure total for future years, when the Synchronize function is ON and the Inflation component is included. (Generally speaking there are few expenses which don't rise with inflation.)