Reconciling with MS Money

Eels100

I've recently got myself a copy of MS Money and want to start getting my incomings and outgoings sorted. Am about to move into my first home and want to get myself organised ref mortgage payments, shared bills etc so that every month I know what I have spent and what I have left to spend on improving the house.

My main problem is where to start! I find MS Money probably a bit too complex for my needs - I really just need an ins and outs calculator which rolls and which I can input my statements to.

I have downloaded the first lot of statements but I just don't know where to start from here. !'m being a bit limp and useless, I know, but it just seems impossible. I'm sure once I get rolling I can keep it up - I just can't find the end of the sellotape so to speak!

saver_sam

I do it the other way around. i enter my transactions as i spend it and then when the statement comes in at the end of the month i then do an reconcile. Sometimes i import statements that i have downloaded if i want to make sure I've got every transaction.

Eels100

Aaaaaah! That makes sense! That means I have to ask for a receipt when I buy a newspaper, and go through my chequebook monthly, and use less cash, yes?

Eek!

saver_sam

I just keep a note book and list what you buy with cash, well thats the theory and i often forget and always having to do miscellanous balance updates on my purse account! I'm a little sad and enter into money at the end of the day if i've spent something. its often open for me as i have shares to keep track of.

MPH80

Eels100 wrote:

Aaaaaah! That makes sense! That means I have to ask for a receipt when I buy a newspaper, and go through my chequebook monthly, and use less cash, yes?

Eek!

Not necessarily.

You can just enter a transaction and give it a category of 'cash withdrawl'. Then you can just spend your cash as normal and not record it.

It won't give you the same depth of detail - but it will simplify cash handling.

The other area to have a look at is the 'Bills and Deposits List' where you can set up your regular bills and even schedule Money to enter them automatically for you.

Personally - the way I use Money is, about 10 days before pay day, I enter my pay slip (using the payslip category which breaks it down into gross pay and tax details) and then all known bills for the following month. The amount I'm left with (above the amount I leave for cash) is the amount I can transfer to my savings and I can then set up that transfer ahead of time.

I've found it very powerful, it certainly helped me find quicker ways out of debt and now it's helping me track my savings and my pension fund.

M.

baldbloke_2

I do the same basically. All food & small purchases are categorised under 'cash withdrawal' in my current account and any single item or expense over say £5 or £10 is paid for with a debit card and entered under it's own category. Create as many categories of expenditure as you find useful.

Enter your regular bills & deposits and they will be entered automatically for you. That will also give you a cash flow forecast.

Money is superb once you get used to it - do persevere please. I tend to check my account online and mark items as reconciled in Money when they appear there. I find the downloading of statements quite a trial as the words used by you and your bank will differ and leave you with a great deal of 'reconciling' to do.

Like MPH80 I also use the cash flow to work out & transfer money regularly into my linked savings account.

Any more questions please ask. I am sure all of us who use Money can remember just how much there was to learn in the first few days. Having said that It is easy to look at and very easy to make entries & changes.

Best of luck

Eels100

Thanks, you've all been great!

I spent a while with a glass of wine (doesn't a nice red just make everything that little bit easier!) last night 'accepting' entries cos it made it look prettier.

Then I realised I think I'm starting to get somewhere, apart from the fact that because I've entered my phone bill amount as variable it's assuming every £40-ish expenditure is to T-Mobile!

I'll get there, I'm sure ... maybe if I go on and play a bit every night it'll start to seem easier. Thank you all!

danbhardy

I use MS Money and find it spot on! Basically it shows you now and the future. You start off with a new account, put all your outgoings on, basically making sure you budget for everything (you can add stuff as you go along weekly). Its helped me as i now know each week what i am allowed to take out the bank in cash, and what has to stay in for direct debits!

Quietgirl

I love money and have been using it since January. I am not using the budget bit because I find it a bit complicated, but I have all my income, direct debits, standing orders etc listed so I can do the cash forecasts and so I can account for every penny and I know exactly how much I should have at any given time.

LOL you may think I am sad BUT, I also have a watered down version of money on my pocket pc, so when I am out and about anywhere, if I spend any money it goes straight into the pocket pc LOL then I let it update the main program on the PC at night LOL.

I like the way you can try cash flow scenarios like for instance the other month I wanted to buy my daughter and I a PS2, so I typed it in too see if i could afford it between then and pay day LOL.

My family laugh at me, but hey I was terrible with money, got into debt, have been bankcrupt, and now for the 1st time in my life I have SAVINGS! Money helps with that, but I do think I have gone from one extreme to another.

choccyface2006

MS Money is absolultly wonderful and when you get used to it, it becomes a doddle to update and use, its been fantastic in helping me to save for my holidays and other major purchases. I think, like others on here I have become addicted to using it! The cash flow senarios are great and the monthly reports are facinating, I really couldn't be without it.

Regarding cash withdrawls, I transfer them to an account marked "cash" (which I also enter any other cash I get, for example I buy something for my mum on my card & she pays me back in cash) then if I can, I break down that cash amount in various catogorys. Last week I withdrew £40 in cash and spent £20 on camping site fees and £20 on eating out so I assigned them into the right catagories. This will show you exactly where you have spent the money, obviously not every single penny will be allocated a catogory, some of it will be day to day spending, but it does help keep an eye on larger amounts of cash and gives you a far more detailed picture of your spending habits. I split transactions loads too, so if I spend £40 shopping at Morrisons but that included £5 on say, compost and £5 on a birthday present, then I would split the £40 into those catagories (food, home & garden, presents)

Transferring cash withdrawals instead of just depositing them into a cash account means that they won't be counted twice, if you see what I mean.

Sarah

michael19_2

I know most of you are probably very dilligent and Backup your money file to disc every week.....

CAN I STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS !!!!

I just LOST 3 years worth of My Money files when my PC died on me...I am totally gutted...lol. I used to love looking at all the reports that showed how much money we wasted in our earlier years. Reports like Net Worth Over Time used to have 36 months worth of graphs now I only have 1 month and it just isnt the same.....

BACK UP DISC and dont make the same mistake I did.....