The second most popular thing to do online!

We all love to bank online, but it can be made a lot easier.

I am more than capable of wiling away hours on the internet, achieving very little. Just one more YouTube video, just one more blog to read. Before you know it, it’s time for bed.

A new survey by Norwich & Peterborough Building Society has thrown light onto what we use the internet for the most each day. And thankfully, it’s not all just ways to waste time!

Money matters!

The building society found the five types of website visited most regularly by UK adults, and there wasn’t a mucky URL to be found!

Instead, top spot was claimed by research sites with 43% of respondents stating they were their most visited websites. These are sites that people use when they want to do some background on a city, an activity, or of course a financial product or issue. So lovemoney.com can claim a share of the top-spot spoils!

However, what really caught my eye was the online activity claiming second spot – online banking.

Banking on the move

More than a third of respondents (38%) pinpointed online banking as their most regular online activity. Indeed, 75% said they used online banking now and again. And it’s not just the younger folk who have taken to using the internet to keep on top of their spending and saving – around 30% of those aged 55 or over are also keen on it.

It’s good to see that so many people are making use of online banking. After all, it’s not always convenient to pop down to your local ATM to get a look at your balance, and where you’ve been doing your spending. By doing it all online, you can get that information whenever you need it, in a matter of moments.

What’s more, if you have a number of different accounts with different banks and providers, you can keep up to date with all of them in a single place.

The lovemoney.com tracker tool

Checking my various bank balances can take a while. I have a current account with Santander, a current account with HSBC, a credit card with Tesco and a joint account with Halifax. All of those accounts have different usernames and passwords for me to remember. And just moving from site to site can take a while.

However, I can check all of them in just one place using the free lovemoney.com tracker tool.

You can log in using your usual lovemoney.com details (though you’ll be asked to come up with a new, more complicated password if your existing password isn’t secure enough). You then add the account and log in details for the various accounts that you want to access.

Keeping up with your transactions

Once your accounts are added, your Tracker dashboard page will demonstrate in clear detail your financial position. You’ll have an income bar, showing how much money has gone into your accounts so far this month, and an expenses bar showing just how much has gone the other way.

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However, what I really like is the pie chart directly below it, breaking down where the money is going. From my own pie chart I can see that a little over 64% of my spending so far this month has been on groceries, compared to 2.36% on travel, and nearly 9% on entertainment. It’s a brilliant way of seeing exactly how much cash you are spending in certain areas, and where you can make savings (like finding a cheaper supermarket!).

You can also adapt the categories that your spending falls into as you see fit.

Getting budgeting

Tracker doesn’t just show you where you’ve spent money in the past – it helps you budget better in future. Under the budgeting tab, you can set up all sorts of monthly budgets. So for example you may decide that each month you want to pay £150 into your pension and £150 into savings.

The tool will show you each month whether you have managed to hit your budget figure, helping you to reach your financial targets in a more measured way. Budgeting has always been a weak point for me – I used to leave putting money aside for my pension to the end of the month, by which point there wasn’t any money left to set aside. With Tracker, I’m less likely to be so daft.

Living online

So besides online banking and doing research, what else do we do online?

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According to Norwich & Peterborough’s research, the average UK adult spends 173 minutes - that’s almost three hours - of their own leisure time each day online. Perhaps if we all started using a tool like Tracker, we could cut that time down a little and go do something useful away from the computer screen!

Let’s take a look at the rest of the top five online activities.

In third place we have news sites. I know that’s one of the things I use the internet for most.

In fourth place are social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These sites can be both a blessing and a curse. If you want to try to make a few quid out of them, check out Five ways to make money from social networks. However, you also need to be on your guard about just how much info you want to share on them. Have a read of Watch out for these social networking scams.

And finally, the fifth most popular thing to do online is shop for things like books, films and CDs. Of course, if you want to keep up to date with the latest and best deals on CDs and DVDs, make sure you subscribe to our weekly Frugal Friday blog.

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