How do you keep track of your household budget?

I use Microsoft Money. God alone knows why Microsoft scrapped the product…

User 66219 says:

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banjo says:

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.

Tim Jones says:

25 July 2017

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.

wavechange says:

Apart from estimating the likely costs of moving home and the ongoing costs, I have never really budgeted, but money has never burned a hole in my pocket.

I carry out my own repairs and tackle many DIY jobs, and do not grudge the cost of tools I have collected over the years. Though I prefer to buy from shops if I can see the goods, I find out what is available online and look at reviews. If possible I wait until bargains are available. My father encouraged me to save and was my personal financial adviser over many years.

When I was younger I was happy to do without common household goods until I could afford them and rode a motorcycle until I could justify buying a car. Before the days of online banking I kept an eye on my monthly statements to avoid having an overdraft and my credit card balances are now paid off by direct debit.

I think if I payed more attention to money or watched adverts, I might be encouraged to spend more.

malcolm r says:

Many years ago when times were harder I started recording weekly expenditure in an A6 cash book, and that habit has stuck. I transfer that to an Excel spreadsheet that lists regular items, cash and “miscellaneous” each month. This enable me to put an annual budget together and monitor it. I do the same for income (much simpler!) and compare the two. Budgeting is sensible, in my view, to ensure you don’t overspend if times are a little tricky.

I also use Microsoft Money to keep track of all my accounts – banks, savings, credit cards, investments, etc. It gives me a really good overview of my financial position, reminds me of regular payments and when they need to be made, and helps ensure a bank account does not go into the red. Unfortunately it is no longer supported in the UK and may well not run under Windows 10 – which I will be using when my current computer is replaced. Which? recommend Moneydance so I’ll probably give that a try and hope MS Money files transfer successfully.

banjo says:

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.

Avelarico says:

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

Ian says:

We use Numbers; the excellent Mac spreadsheet that comes pre-installed on every Mac. It allows for easy and rapid calculations, is very adaptable and also has lots of delightful charts and graphs that don’t help very much but look wonderful.

What it does do is to alert you about upcoming expenditure and lets you know if there’s any chance of forgetting to pay the butler, for instance, or keep the footmen supplied with gun polish.

wavechange says:

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.

User 66219 says:

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wavechange says:

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

Ian says:

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.

User 66219 says:

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wavechange says:

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

malcolm r says:

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

AnthonyHowe says:

I use moneymanagerEX as it’s free and does not use cloud. It seems to do all the things these other products do and it’s simple.
I’ll check money dance to see if it’s worth the cost and effort to swap.

william says:

I’ve never really bothered watching the pennies, but then again if I want something and I can’t afford it I wait til I can and if I’m lucky hopefully by then I won’t want it. Even having a credit card with £20k limit I still only buy what I can afford.

bishbut says:

At the time when I had very little money , had non to waste I quickly learnt to know where my money went .I now keep track of are my money by looking at bank statements as least twice a week and keeping notes of other spending I know just if I can afford to buy anything if I cannot I will wait until I can My Credit Card is only used for convenience I always have the money somewhere to pay with when it is used I used my Debit Card so that I know just what I have spent by looking at my bank statement the next day or very soon .Credit cards are the reason many people are in debt and the ease of borrowing any amount of anywhere .Banks make money by lending so they want to lend and lend causing more debt

LJR69 says:

I used YNAB right up until it became a subscription service. Fantastic piece of software that allowed my wife and I to instantly record a transaction as it happened through our phones and see that pull from the budget we’d set. Not paying their monthly fee though and now I just do it all manually.

Dan says:

7 August 2017

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!

DerekP says:

These days I just use simple spreadsheets in LibreOffice Calc.

In the past, I’ve used other spreadsheet programs, including Excel.

I think understanding the principles involved is as important as the choice of software. It also helps to have enough income to be able to afford your unavoidable costs – without that no amount of fancy budgeting is going to keep you out of the red.

John Ward says:

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

Sophie Gilbert says:

27 June 2017

I have an Excel spreadsheet and a paper diary. I record what I spend every day. Every penny counts. I’m not currently in debt to anyone and I’m lucky I don’t need more money than I earn (below average).

Beancounter says:

29 June 2017

I used Microsoft Money for years, but after they stopped supporting it I switched to Banktivity. It runs on Macs, iPads and iPhones and it’s excellent at keeping track of spending and savings effortlessly.

JonSnell says:

2 July 2017

I am 37 and used old fashioned way pen and paper what i get and what i spend, and i looked and found i was spending £40 a week on lunches on buying them in shops crisp etc. Mrs said buy your own meat and that DIY so cook chicken in many different ways so i not bored. I find lidl salad and wraps and morrison 3 for ten, now cost £5.50 a week and i lost a few pounds in the 10 stone area feel hell of a lot better. Thats the way i account weekly , you find wants and needs with in weeks i was in the nicer things in life. I am self employed and used that skill to help i hope i helped. If not i sorry for wasting your life xx.

User 66219 says:

2 July 2017

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beehive03 says:

I have used Quicken until they stopped and then converted to Mkicrosift Money and have all my records on it dating back nearly 20 years. It is now gving probelms and I thought I should try BankTree and Home Accountz. Home Accountz immediately gave probelms but have perserved with Bank Tree but the import from Money is very poor and have spent a good few hours putting data in, still not finished and realise that it provides nothing as good as Money. I had a quick look at MoneyDance but the import from Money is useless so whwere do I go from here?

malcolm r says:

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?

wavechange says:

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.

malcolm r says: