What software for budgets??

[Louise-Montreal]

I am going to try a budget and would like something where I can enter my receipts and bills and it will tell me if I am still on my budget for expenses that fluctuate. I realize that most bills are fixed- but for the ones that aren't- is there a software program that will do that for you.

Hope this makes sense,

Louise

 

[geetey]

It sounds like Quicken would do exactly what you are looking for. We enter each checkbook transaction into Quicken and then can view where our $$ are going. Quicken Basic works just fine. We haven't found the additional expense of Deluxe to be worth it. (We have used Quicken for 8+ yrs.)

I know Microsoft has a Money program but I am not familiar with it.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[pdchris]

Microsoft Money will work, too. For myself, I use an Excel spreadsheet. I just set it up listing all the 'payouts' and my expected income. I'm on salary so, other than on-call and call-back pay, it's pretty fixed. I usually set up the next year's budget around December. For utility bills, I just check the previous year's and calculate in an inflation rate. I st it up by payday, every two weeks.
Then, I have a field set up where I enter the actual income and expenses. I also put a column in so I can compare the current year's figures to the previous year.
Now, if I can just stay within budget....sigh.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I have a family budget spreadsheet set-up in an excel format that I downloaded from a web-site. If you want a copy just send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will give you a copy.