How do you keep track of your household budget?

MSM met its demise because MS admitted ( in a round about way) , it was no longer “profitable ” to maintain Banjo.

That is the standard excuse for everything. MS had not updated the product for years (the last UK version was 2005) and only one server was used to supply the initial installation & registration procedure. It would not have been costing them much to “support”. There were no real alternatives at the time it was dropped and that is still largely the case now. The Which review of related packages doesn’t reveal a likely contender for the MSMoney crown.

It is worth noting that MS sort-of changed their minds and produced a final release AFTER they had scrapped the package. The QFE2 version had all the functions of the original package but no longer needed the registration server to install on a new PC.

I’ve been a regular on the MSMoney forums on Microsoft.com for something like 10 years and the product is still well used.

I too use Microsoft Money. Mine’s a 2001 version and does everything I want from such a product. Yes, God alone knows why Microsoft scrapped it.

MSMoney files will not transfer correctly to Moneydance because Moneydance insists on using the Loose QIF export format which does not support all (or even most) of the MSMoney data so large quantities of data are simply lost. A new package would need to be able to import directly from the native Money files in order to have any chance of a full transfer.

I’m using Microsoft Money 97 and it works fine on Windows 10.

Maybe buying a Mac might upset this month’s budget. 🙂 Excel will serve the needs and don’t forget that it appeared on the Mac well before a version was released for the IBM-compatible computer.

Only choice -Windows-v-Mac – no contest- MAC wins –every time.

But it might be better for the budget to go for Linux and a free open source spreadsheet.

Interestingly, I’ve just bought another Mac Mini – to use primarily as a Music server – and I was struck by the low cost. I still get the University Tutor rate, which I imagine you will, too, W, and the cost for a brand new Mini was under £470. Not bad.

I would expect that export into Excel would be exported (.xlsx or .xls files) or failing that, export as .csv, which is fairly universal.

Thanks Duncan, I’ll keep note of that. 🙂

I use YNAB and pay the subscription. It is excellent software and works the same way that my brain does when it comes to budgeting. I’m hoping that the fee will be returned to me by making me more aware of what I’m doing with the money. Couldn’t recommend it more!

Absolutely right, Derek. Even the back of an envelope will do if you know what you’re doing.

What an absolutely lovely letter Jon 37 years old and NOT “Digitized ” how did you do it in this modern day+age when its computers from birth ? And Mrs giving you such good, practical advice that my wife has done also in the past also much credit to females they are more down to earth than many males (thats a revelation coming from me ) . I tell you this Jon , if this planet had more people like you there would be no more wars and killings, you certainly HAVENT wasted MY life , you have just given me more hope this world can be saved. Inspirational ! + another “thumbs up” if I could do it.

I use MS Money, and have done for many years, so am familiar with its use and features. That still runs on my 11 year old Vista laptop – but how long will it last? o I’ve invested in a Windows 10 PC on which I believe MS Money will not run. Any way I’m resigned to making a change and am considering Moneydance. I’m also resigned to not being able to import Money files. Is it really so bad? I can start from scratch, putting in relevant older transactions including those not yet reconciled, and keep a separate record of any historic transactions of importance – such as when an appliance was purchased in case a claim needs to be made.

Has anyone used Moneydance?

Malcolm – Microsoft Money allows export in both .csv and .xls formats, either of which will allow transfer of data to Excel and probably to most financial software, either directly or via Excel.

Thanks wavechange. I’ll have a look to see if it might work with Moneydance.

Don’t understand why you stopped using Quicken. I started using it in the 1990s and still do to this day. Runs perfectly well on my new PC using Windows 10.