Money tracking spreadsheet/program

[SnowWhite2]

For those of you who track their spending, how do you track it? A spreadsheet, program, etc? I would like to keep track of all of our money this year and the thought of putting together a spreadsheet seems daunting. I was hoping some of the Budget Board folks would have some good recommendations.

TIA!

 

[minnie1928]

I like Quicken. I know others like YouNeedABudget (YNAB.com).

 

[DaniB]

I use a Excel and created my own spreadsheet. I have a tab for each month, plus a tab each for the kids' birthdays, christmas, savings, disney fund, etc.

 

[Totoro]

I use Quicken. I have also heard good things about Mint.com, which is free. A few of my co-workers use it.

 

[rnorwo1]

Mint.com is free and I know lots of people who like it, but it didn't work with my credit union... there are also tons of spreadsheets already out there that you can just download and customize. I used one from microsoft for awhile and it was easy and free. I have been trying to get You Need A Budget (YNAB) because it seems very easy and has some neat features, like you can "move" money to different categories for savings and have your available balance not include them (and not have to have separate accounts for them), but I'm having trouble downloading it (the support staff have been super nice and are trying to fix the problem for me.) It's $60, but I'm thinking that if I actually pay for it, I may be more apt to stick to it ha, ha! You can also do all of this very easy by hand, but I like to have the spreadsheets to easily add it up over months/years.

 

[mikehn]

Mint is free and there is an iphone version

 

[Ericandjenng]

I use a Excel and created my own spreadsheet. I have a tab for each month, plus a tab each for the kids' birthdays, christmas, savings, disney fund, etc.

I did this same thing and use a different "sheet" for each month. I see everything for a whole month on one page.

 

[bridget]

I'm another mint.com fan!

 

[fab5friend99]

I have Quicken and love it! I used to use a spreadsheet and I can kick myself for not switching to Quicken earlier. It is so easy to keep track of things. I have the version where I can track my investments too. I absolutely love love love being able to download my bank, credit cards, 401k transactions, and stock prices with practically the click of a button. I am so on top of things now and I never miss a payment date now since you can set up reminders. And with tax time coming up it is so easy to do taxes since you categorize all your spending through out the year.

 

[amylynne01]

I have Quicken and love it! I used to use a spreadsheet and I can kick myself for not switching to Quicken earlier. It is so easy to keep track of things. I have the version where I can track my investments too. I absolutely love love love being able to download my bank, credit cards, 401k transactions, and stock prices with practically the click of a button. I am so on top of things now and I never miss a payment date now since you can set up reminders. And with tax time coming up it is so easy to do taxes since you categorize all your spending through out the year.

Ditto everything here. You can also see how much you've spent in one category. For example, you can claim child care costs on your taxes. We haven't been in day care since August, so instead of having to contact our old provider who closed, I can run a quick report to see how much I'd paid her this year. Downloading transactions is SO sweet, and you can reconcile your accounts at the end of each month so you know where every penny goes. Love it.

 

[kellia]

I've seen Mint.com before and it looks cool, but I am so worried about giving some site the info for all of my accounts! Has anyone heard of any problems? Does it just get the info when you log in to update it or is it automatically? Who do they make money off of if it is all free?

 

[Karenj2]

I use YNAB.com - I this program!

 

[GoofyGolferGirl]

I have a small home based business and would like to use Quicken for personal and business use. To those familar with Quicken which version would you use? I don't have "employees" but I do have contract labor.

 

[Sadie22]

I have Quicken and love it! I used to use a spreadsheet and I can kick myself for not switching to Quicken earlier. It is so easy to keep track of things. I have the version where I can track my investments too. I absolutely love love love being able to download my bank, credit cards, 401k transactions, and stock prices with practically the click of a button. I am so on top of things now and I never miss a payment date now since you can set up reminders. And with tax time coming up it is so easy to do taxes since you categorize all your spending through out the year.

I have been using Quicken and Turbotax for years.

 

[JaymeC]

I have a small home based business and would like to use Quicken for personal and business use. To those familar with Quicken which version would you use? I don't have "employees" but I do have contract labor.

You'd want quicken home and business. For most people, they just need the basic quicken deluxe which you can usually find around this time of year for about $30

We use quicken Both my husband and I love it for the tracking ability, charts, etc. We feel like we can see where our money goes pretty easily

 

[hlkeck]

Quicken is amazing. PLUS, for Christmas, I bought DH something called "Neat Receipts". It's a scanner. You run all your bills and all your receipts thru it and - I kid you not - it automagically populates into Quicken. He is so excited about being able to shred everything now. I'm excited, too - because I can't stand all the paper stored in all the places for 7 years.

So, another vote for Quicken and the first vote for Neat Receipt Scanner. It's about $200 but totally worth it.

 

[amylynne01]

Quicken is amazing. PLUS, for Christmas, I bought DH something called "Neat Receipts". It's a scanner. You run all your bills and all your receipts thru it and - I kid you not - it automagically populates into Quicken. He is so excited about being able to shred everything now. I'm excited, too - because I can't stand all the paper stored in all the places for 7 years.

So, another vote for Quicken and the first vote for Neat Receipt Scanner. It's about $200 but totally worth it.

Does that scanner make copies of receipts as well? We're looking for one so we can have copies of important receipts saved on our computer instead of a billion pieces of paper filed. Not to mention the filing cabinet of stuff just waiting for a "just-in-case" moment.

 

[DaniB]

Quicken is amazing. PLUS, for Christmas, I bought DH something called "Neat Receipts". It's a scanner. You run all your bills and all your receipts thru it and - I kid you not - it automagically populates into Quicken. He is so excited about being able to shred everything now. I'm excited, too - because I can't stand all the paper stored in all the places for 7 years.

So, another vote for Quicken and the first vote for Neat Receipt Scanner. It's about $200 but totally worth it.

Does that scanner make copies of receipts as well? We're looking for one so we can have copies of important receipts saved on our computer instead of a billion pieces of paper filed. Not to mention the filing cabinet of stuff just waiting for a "just-in-case" moment.

OMG! I need more information on that please!

I hate receipts... they are overflowing and I can't figure out what to do with them! I never worried about them much in the past as I would enter them into Excel and throw them out. But now I'm suppose to keep the ones related to daycare and it's gotten out of control!!!

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

With Quicken do you need to be on line? I do not do any banking online. If so what are other good budget/spread sheets I put can on a computer not attached to the internet? TIA

 

[Sadie22]

With Quicken do you need to be on line? I do not do any banking online. If so what are other good budget/spread sheets I put can on a computer not attached to the internet? TIA

You do not need to be online to use Quicken provided you enter everything by hand, which is what I have always done.