An account associated with a card is characterized by one or more budgetary items (collectively contained within a budget) that may be created by the card holder, account holder or a third party. A budgetary item may be created based on a time period regardless of the funds presently in the account. A budgetary item may be categorized by function, item or merchant. For example, a budgetary item may be created for “household supplies”, “shoes” or “The Gap”. The budget may be stored by the card itself, a financial institution or by a third party. When a purchase is being made, a transaction is initiated between the merchant/supplier of the goods or services and the account holder similar to conventional transactions. The budgetary items are used to determine, in part, whether a proposed financial transaction is to be authorized, in whole or in part, or rejected, in whole or in part.