Keeping track of money

subjecttocontract

Everyones financial position, wealth, complexity is different so we all keep track of money in different ways except those people, and I've known quite a few, who don't make much attempt at keeping control.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099956#Comment_82099956

Numbers is free with Macs and iPads as well but I've never liked it or Libre; if you cannot use a version provided by work Excel isn't free but you can find cheap licences for it/Microsoft Office.

friolento

I use AceMoney on a Windows laptop. I think they do a Mac version too, but no app.

It’s essentially a spreadsheet but has lots of functionality readily enabled already. It’s very easy to populate AceMoney with recurring receipts (salary, pensions etc) and regular and irregular payments (SOs, DDs and one-offs), to categorise your transactions, to keep on top of multiple accounts, and to run various reports. It doesn’t connect to any UK bank accounts, though, so you have to add and reconcile your transactions manually. You can also easily set up and monitor your Budget

I track everything financial in AceMoney, including my Amazon gift card and credit cards, and can therefore at any one point in time see my total wealth, or should I say lack of it.

GeoffTF

I have only 16 accounts and I am steadily reducing that number. Some people have ten or more times that. I use LibreOffice. My main files are: Addresses, CGT Notes, Diary, Expenditure, Income and Investments. I also record cash movements between accounts in a note book. (Diary records only the important financial events, not £250 Santa to Skipton.)

RichL74

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679484/keeping-track-of-money

I use a spreadsheet yes, even though I know off by heart what is in and out.

Rich1976

I have a spreadsheet which has evolved over the years split into 3 sections . Essential Expenses, savings and pensions and finally Entertainment and fun.

I don’t really track the essential bills anymore as they are pretty much the same as each month but I just input the credit card bill and then it calculates how much is left to go into savings .

I have a separate tab for each month of the year and then a tab which pulls through all the savings totals from each month.

Another tab records our pension balances on the last day of each month which I add manually and the final tab is a net worth tracker which pulls through the savings and pensions totals and then I add how much is left on the mortgage and an estimate of the house value .

I don’t really have any need to do any of this now but just keep doing it as interested to see where the money goes rather than keeping a restricted budget which is what it started as .

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679484/keeping-track-of-money

There are lots of options, the primary advantage of a spreadsheet over SomeApp is that a spreadsheet can be used year after year whereas SomeApp is likely to go out of business at a point just when you're highly dependent on it. Spreadsheets are flexible and adaptable and grow in complexity as your knowledge/skills require - there are several freeware versions out there (and most are compatible with each other if you decide to change).

I've used one for decades and I simply have a sheet for each year - I have data going back before the millennium, not because I need it but because I've simply copied the sheet and changed dates from one year to the next.

huw01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100168#Comment_82100168

Also Google sheets is basically like excel and free. All you need is a Gmail account to use it, or create one if you don't use Gmail. Why pay for Excel when alternatives are available free

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82111691#Comment_82111691

Use what you like, it makes no odds to me and it's great that there are free options, but Excel's my preferred software. A few years ago I paid just £13 for a lifetime Office 2021 licence which also included Word and other things. Today it looks like you can find Office 2024 licences for £15-£20 but I don't feel the urge to "upgrade" before I get a new Mac. I know this is a money saving website but getting into conniptions over trivial amounts is a bit much sometimes.

huw01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82111936#Comment_82111936

You are correct they are trivial amounts, I think it's just the lack of awareness out there that many people think because they have Microsoft Office in work that there aren't any other alternatives . A family member needed a new laptop a few months ago and after we chatted it became evident that really a cheap Chromebook would really suffice for what they were currently using a windows laptop for. As she was going to go for like for like with what she used in work plus virus protection subscription, office etc - we saved her around £400 when she opted for a £200 chromebook.