tracking your finances

cloud_dog

MS Money is great, as long as you have a Windows Pc/laptop. Runs quite happily on W10 despite its age.

I find budgeting and planning are two distinct activities, i.e. for budgeting I use MS Money and have my future payments set up to display for the next 90 days. I tend to have a single (variable) entry for the credit card which I adjust accordingly.

For planning I use the plethora of standard and configurable reports. These can run against a single account or a selection of multiple accounts, across standard or defined time period, based on categories etc, etc. All the usual money management stuff. And, it is free.

I have a copy of the last UK version (the last free Sunset version is the americanised version).

(let me know if the link doesn't work)

blue.peter

cloud_dog, I hope you don't mind me downloading a copy of Money from the link that you kindly provided. I thought that it might be interesting to take a look at it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. It won't install under Wine (I have Linux on this computer).

AceMoney certainly scores over MS Money in terms of compatibility. There are Windows and Mac OS versions. The Windows version works happily in a Wine bottle.

Jami74

blue.peter wrote: »

Jami74, what do you use to record your income and expenditure? I operate a similar system to you, recording everything in AceMoney. This gives me the correct figures for each account and a running overall balance.

If I remember rightly, AceMoney can be trialled without payment on a version limited to two accounts(?). Other users here favour MS Money - which is free - but I don't have any experience of it and so can't comment on it. It might be worth your while investigating this.

I have a spreadsheet. With multiple tabs. It has been getting more extensive and detailed over time, so I Googled for some example budget spreadsheets thinking I could maybe combine some of the tabs. I like the proper budget spreadsheet and wanted to 'budget to zero'. I think I need to transfer an amount equivalent to the credit card spends from income to somewhere so my net balance is more accurately reflected. Or, just get over the fact that my accounts balance will differ from my net balance.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look at AceMoney and MS Money.

little_green

wow surprised at how many respnses this htread had gotten.
I have stuck to Jan-Dec for tracking expenditure/expenses for the time being.
If i have the need to track income for tax purposes or anything more complicated I can transition at the time it's necessary.

little_green

Jami74 wrote: »

I have a spreadsheet. With multiple tabs. It has been getting more extensive and detailed over time, so I Googled for some example budget spreadsheets thinking I could maybe combine some of the tabs. I like the proper budget spreadsheet and wanted to 'budget to zero'. I think I need to transfer an amount equivalent to the credit card spends from income to somewhere so my net balance is more accurately reflected. Or, just get over the fact that my accounts balance will differ from my net balance.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look at AceMoney and MS Money.

i love the idea of opening up a "hiolding account" to transfer money to that will be used to pay off cc at month end/following month. I too get a bit irked that my account balance doesn't accurately reflect what I have due to cc purchases. Think i'll look into the idea of having a "holding" account.

Herbyme

little_green wrote: »

i love the idea of opening up a "hiolding account" to transfer money to that will be used to pay off cc at month end/following month. I too get a bit irked that my account balance doesn't accurately reflect what I have due to cc purchases. Think i'll look into the idea of having a "holding" account.

That's why I've stopped using my credit card, it keeps things simpler and is one less download at the end of each month. I will use it for foreign trips if it works out cheaper than a debit card but otherwise it's on ice

Eco_Miser

little_green wrote: »

If i have the need to track income for tax purposes or anything more complicated I can transition at the time it's necessary.

In April I total the income 1 Jan to 5 April for each account (Q1). In January I total the year's income for each account as normal, and also subtract Q1 from this giving Qrest and copy this figure to the new spreadsheet. The financial year income is the brought forward Qrest + Q1 from the new sheet. In practice, it's all automated, except copying the Qrest figure to the new sheet. No need to be keeping detailed info more than once.
(Q stands for Quarter)