Tracking expenses

[heyduke]

you might be the last one that uses paper... I still use a spreadsheet and just get the bank statements and credit card info off the web once a month and enter it all - let it calculate everything and then just analyze the results...

 

[Tandemlovers]

I can't be the only one here that still does this all on paper, am I?

I still use paper!

I spend a few minutes each morning tracking our expenses using these "budget notebooks," available from Office Depot and other vendors:

Adams Home/Office Budget Record Book - ABFAFR31

I've been tracking our expenses this way for at least 10 years.

 

[Walt34]

We use a combination of Quicken and a (remember Lotus?) spreadsheet. Quicken is for the granular stuff - i.e., what did we spend on natural gas last year - and the spreadsheet is for this month and next month's predicted expenses, and current balances. The spreadsheet totals everything up and as long as "the bottom line" is a positive number we know we're good.

But I'm married to a bookkeeper/accountant. She's very precise.

 

[KB]

I still use a combination of paper and MS Money. I have never downloaded, so when they discontinued the download feature, it didn't effect me.

I keep a binder with monthly tabs, and each month has a list of my regular projected bills and whatever irregular bills are expected. I also have other spending things like birthdays where I send checks or buy presents.

Since I deduct everything from my checkbook at the first of the month, I take care of all known transactions at that time. I rarely write checks except for things like property tax, auto, home and umbrella insurance and gifts for relatives out of state.

I post everything from my checkbook and all receipts from spending in MS Money.

I regularly run reports in MS Money but only print out the year end report to see if I need to work on cutting back in any areas. With the copies from previous years, I can compare to see any trends in spending.

 

[ksr]

I started using Quicken almost 15 years ago, when there was no online version. I don't like change, so I still use Quicken on the computer. I enter everything by hand - I don't find it to be much of a burden and in some ways I like doing it because it really gives me a good grasp of what I'm spending day-to-day and monthly.

I really like the EasyAnswer reports feature - I can total up spending by category and by timeframe (year-to-date, this quarter, last year, etc.). I spend a lot of time contemplating my budget (too much, probably ) and Quicken gives me plenty of tools for doing that.

 

[JustNtime]

I still use a combination of paper and MS Money. I have never downloaded, so when they discontinued the download feature, it didn't effect me.

I'm still able to download from my credit card and since most of my purchases are there -- it is a real time saver. From your credit card/bank site, look for their download feature. Download in the appropriate format with MS_Money open and wallah all your gas and big mac purchases are imported along with everything else. A few clicks on categories/etc. and things go even smoother the next time. A good way to check for fraudulent/double charges, mistakes, etc., if done weekly (or even every few days or so). I tend to do with my Portfolio checks, so no additional time is required...

 

[accountingsucks]

I simply dl into Excel, categorize everything and then run a Pivot table on the data and sort it by month/category. Whole process takes about 10 minutes tops however I have everything in one bank and just two accounts to download (chequing and my Visa).

 

[Tesaje]

Moneydance! I switched this year from years of a bloated Quicken. Free updates, easy double entry bookkeeping, nice clean interface and display without all those Quicken ads, does the bank downloads, tho I don't use that, plus, I can run it on any computer with a thumb drive - can't do that with Quicken. I would never trust on-line anything with my personal data. They can change the privacy policy at will or if it gets sold, they can change it.

I don't put any account numbers or personal ID in my tracking software.
I keep an encrypted password safe to keep all my account/ID numbers.
I also use Excel, especially for tracking my savings/investment accounts.

Microsoft no longer supports or sells Money.

 

[kjpliny]

spreadsheet

I posted this thread with an attached file a few years ago...my inlaws are still using it. I used it for a year to see where all the money was going.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/simple-expense-tracking-29823.html