Money management tools

[HeatherB]

What is the best money management software?

There are so many options out there that I have no idea which one I should get.

Here is what I need....
-something that is simple to use and doesn't require a lot of memory space
-something that is fairly inexpensive
-something to help me keep track of the following bills...
Rent
Car insurance
Electric
Gas
2 different CC (which will only have a small balance at all times)
Money spent on food
Money spent on gas
Cable
Telephone
Internet (possibly combined with above 2)
A SAVINGS PLAN -
And on top of all of this, I would like the software be able to have scheduled reminders of upcoming payments. (possibly even a household schedule for chores) Plus, it needs to be able to have a varying income range. (meaning, my husband's paychecks vary due to seasonal work)

Is it possible to find something that will do all these things for under $100??

Do you use a money management software? If so, which one? Do you like it?

Thanks in advance for opinions/reviews.

[lrprn]

What is the best money management software?

Here's a review of the top money management programs - http://financialsoft.about.com/od/re...e_Software.htm

The two most widely used programs are Quicken and Microsoft Money. I have been using Quicken 2007 for about a year - I like it. Great budgeting and bill reminder functions, and the quick and easy reports it creates make knowing where your money is going so much easier to sort out! If you are tracking more complicated accounts like retirement funds, for example, it can be a bit complicated (but the Help files are easy to use). For straightforward checkbook deposit in vs. checks or debit card purchases out functions, it couldn't be easier.

There's Quicken Online Bill Pay that I could use if I wanted to simplify things even more, but I personally prefer to use the online bill payment center offered through our bank.

[kl030505]

Can I make a suggestion?

Do you have microsoft Excel?

Do you do online banking? If so, you have all the tools you need for quick and easy managment of expenses and savings. Once you get it set up, it is really easy to maintain.

Here's what I did:

I downloaded the last 60 days of my bank statement into an excel file. Because we pretty much exclusively use our debit card/write checks for EVERYTHING, my entirely monthly expenditures and deposits can be found there. I cleaned it, added a column to categorize the items (utilities, mortgage, food, dining out, clothes, home maintainance, auto maintainance etc etc. Once I had it all labeled, I sorted by the categories, and totaled each individual category. Very eye opening for me. We were spending a fortune on food every month. Since I had done 60 days I divided each total by 2 to get an avg monthly amount spent.

Anyway, once I saw where the money ACTUALLY went each month, it was easier for me to develop a reasonable budget - for example we were spending like $700/month on food for a family of 3 which is just ridiculous. We were WAY too lax about allowing a stop for dunkin donuts coffee or bagels on Sat. mornings, etc. I wasn't shopping smart at the grocery store, etc. I decided $500 was more than fair to budget for a month for a family of 3. Honestly, I should be able to get it lower than that, but I didn't want to begin with unachievable goals. Small steps.

Anyway, once I had an idea of where the $$ went. I set myself up with a projected budget by week and I have it set for a month.

Again, it's an excel spreadsheet. My column headers are: (1)Date/Bill description, (2)Income, (3)Expenses, (4)Left, (5)Gas/Groceries/Misc, and (6)What's left.

In the Date column, I start with each Friday. I started on October 19th. Then, in parentheses, I put in what bills I will pay that week (I get paid every Friday, DH gets paid every other Friday, so I split up monthly bills by week). So, for the first week, the first column looks something like this: October 19th (phone, cable, electric, gas, Kate Student Loan).

Next column is income. I have a formula set up to = the balance in the what's left column from the week before + whatever we net that Friday. My income is steady, but I had to guess at my husband's for a while, so I put in a conservative guess.

Next is Expenses. This is another formula that is the sum of each of the bills I listed in the date column. Many of my utility bills aren't the same from month to month, but I used a conservative estimate. My cable/internet bill is steady, the phone bill is pretty steady and I guessed around $300/month between electric and gas... some months will be lower, some much higher, but that's probably a good overall guess for now. So, for that week's expenses, the formula looks like: =80+51.54+50+250+161, in the actual cell it just shows me the sum.

Next I have what is left, again, a formula = income-expenses.

Next is Gas/Groceries/Misc. I have a standard guesstimate of $250/week for this category. Every Thursday, I check our online statement and put in whatever the ACTUAL number is for the previous week. Sometimes I spend less than that, sometimes it's more. e.g. we went to Costco last week and spend almost $400 stocking up. But, we didn't go to the grocery last week and I won't need to go this week either so the $250 will be lower this week. Anyway, having the standard $250 in there every week helps me to see how much I CAN spend.

Finally I have what's left which is another formula of =Left-Gas/Groceries/Misc.

Then, I start a new row with the following week: October 26 (Kate Car, Car insurance, etc). Income = what's left from Oct 19th + estimate for pay that Friday.

I know it sounds convuluded, and it takes a long time to set it up, but once it is set up (I did a year out), it's VERY easy to maintain. I check it every Thursday and put in the accurate number for gas/groceries for the previous week (based on the online statement-gotta love online banking!) Then, on Friday, I put in the accurate income, pay my bills that I listed out for that week (again with the online banking!) and put in the true expense numbers into the budget. There might be something extra that comes up. because the forumlas all update automatically, it's easy for me to see if I can afford to make an extra payment I hadn't anticipated that week and add it in if I do. I'm aiming for "what's left" the last column to never dip below $100 once all the other stuff is done each week.

At one point, I added in a monthly "pay yourself first" expense to one week. HOnestly, I pay all the bills in either the first 2 weeks of the month or the last week (usually) and so that third week, I put in a certain amount for paying ourselves first (I'll set up an automatic transfer of that amount to savings on that day each month when we can afford it. I can't actually afford to do it until March of next year, but I have $500/month budgeted one week to go to savings beginning in March. And by July we should be able to bump it to $1000/month (I'm getting aggressive about savings so I can FINALLY have a safety net again).

This spreadsheet allows me to project out what my checking account balance COULD be in a year as well as how much I can put toward savings. It's not likely to be as high as it looks now because I'm sure I forgot stuff, things will come up, etc. But, I'm also hoping unexpected windfalls will come in too. If we get a tax refund, if DH gets any bonuses, all those can go directly into savings because I budgeted using our BARE MINIMUM income.

I have used Microsoft money before and I like my little excel sheet better. Having a weekly budget rather than a monthly one is really helpful to me right now, because if something comes up and I spend more than I budgeted one week, then I know I can bring myself back in line the next week and "correct" my overall monthly budget. For example, we went to a picture book museum today and saw a theater performance with our daughter today. We spent about $50 today between admission prices, gift shop purchases (for Christmas gifts) and dinner out. That was not in my budget, but I know now that I need to be mindful the rest of the month to sort of correct that. It's just better for me when I have a weekly check in instead of a monthly one. I am not a shop a holic or anything, but it's really easy for me to justify stupid purchases in my head "It's ONLY $5", but those $5 purchases add up FAST, so having it laid out so explicitly by week is really useful to me. Plus, having a savings goal and being able to watch the balance a year from now grow or shrink every week depending on my habits for that week is a REALLY great incentive to keep doing better.

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to share my spreadsheet. PM me and I will send it to you.

[arkienurse]

I have been using microsoft money for 5 years or so. At first I didn't understand all it would do, but you can keep track of all the things you are wanting, and you can set it to remind you automatically just before payments are due. I am sure Quicken works just as well, but I am used to Money. To the point that I even purchased the update this year. Only thing I need is to upgrade to the Money that will allow me to automatically download my 401 k reports.

[Keebler]

I use QuickBooks that I bought at Goodwill. It's from 2001 but it works perfectly fine.

[JollyGG]

We use microsoft money and we really like it.