Does anyone use a spreadsheet or Quicken for budgeting?

[msfdisk]

I'm TRYING to come up with a plan for the year. I'm currently using Quicken to download my banking stuff, etc. BUT I only use it for just that. I dont really balance using it. I do have my Medical Debts and long Term loans, etc in it....

I'm having issues planning a budget each week and coming up with a savings plan. I was going to check out my latest downloads in Quicken tonight and figure out extracurricular expenses.

 

I want to see what other people use and what works for them.

 

I'm the type of person that when I save money, it needs to be out of sight out of mind. I have to have another account set up for my savings or for my kids tuition (private school), daycare, etc. Then another one for bills and food, etc..

I have 3 checking and 1 savings.

 

I have a friend who has a very detailed spreadsheet.

My mother in law keeps all her money in 1 account and just writes down what the money is allocated for (taxes, credit card pay off, etc) I definatly cant do that.....

 

I never use cash.

 

What method have you used and what do you like about it?

[texasnightowl]

I'm like you. I use Quicken only for downloading balances to reconcile statements and such. I just have never gotten into using it for an actual budget.

 

I use an Excel spreadsheet.

 

The first 2 columns in the spreadsheet are: Transaction Date and Transaction/Payee

 

Then I have 3 columns for my Checking Account that are: Withdrawal, Deposit, Balance

Then I have 3 columns for my Savings Account that are: Transfer, Interest or Withdrawal, Balance

My savings account columns may seem a little weird, but they are setup the way they are because it is a Wachovia Way2Save account...So, each time I use my debit card or online bill pay, $1 moves from my checking to savings account. So I setup my spreadsheet so I could keep track of that.

 

As an example, let's say my "Line 20" balance is $1000 in my checking and $1000 in my savings. Line 21 would look something like:

 

Date | Payee | Withd | Dep | Balance | Trans. | Int/Withd | Balance

01-22-2010 | Student Loan Payment | $200 | - | $800 | - | - | $1000

but, because of the automatic transfer (student loan is via online bill pay), when I also put in the $1 move, it looks like this:

01-22-2010 | Student Loan Payment | $200 | - | $799 | $1 | - | $1001

 

Basically, I have Checking account balance set to calculate for the $1 transfer, so the Checking account running balance formula is: Previous balance - Withdrawal + Deposit - Savings Transfer.

 

 

I have my spreadsheet setup a good 6 months out. Meaning I have all paychecks and known expenses listed. Rent, utilities, payments, even my 6 month insurance renewal is all entered. Then, I also have an automatic transfer of $25 to my savings account on each payday, so this is entered. Plus I also put in my spreadsheet $ for gas, groceries, haircuts, etc. So, this gives me a way to see how I'm doing and where I might have extra or where I have large payments coming up (ie. insurance or taxes). By having it go 5 or 6 months out, I can continuously see how a change now (unexpected expense or windfall) will affect me a few months down the line.

 

There is probably a better way to do this, but I've been basically using this spreadsheet for 4 yrs or so.

 

At one time, I had another checking and savings account that were on the spreadsheeet too, but really, I just use the one checking and one savings account. So everything is in one place.

[radi8]

I still use a paper ledger book. Seriously. I've tried to use the electronic spreadsheets, but the book is just faster for me. I can see everything at a glance, and go back to last month just by flipping a page.

 

Yeah, I know. Truman isn't president anymore either.

[jtoast]

I personally use a heavily modified version of the below microsoft template.

 

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/template...=CT101172321033

 

There are other ones available.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/template...1172321033.aspx

Edited January 25, 2010 by jtoast

[jolla]

I use Quicken Online (free). It definitely has some limitations (you can't add accounts that don't connect electronically), but I love it.

[sillyviolet]

I use Mint.com to help keep track of my budget. It was recommended in a class and has helped me so far.

[AnonymouslyIndebted]

I personally use Excel spreadsheet and also Mint.com. I am still new to Mint so I'm still trying to figure it out.

[aggieastrosfan]

I currently use both. I've been using a spreadsheet I designed and have been tweaking constantly, and this year I just purchased Quicken. I use Quicken for short-term planning, and my spreadsheet for long-term planning. I would love to switch everything over to Quicken, but I've found my spreadsheet does a much better job at the long-term. That, and apparently I can calculate my estimated income taxes a lot better than Quicken can.

 

I'm still trying to switch to Quicken. I probably won't stop messing with it until I figure out how to get it working for me!

[susyquk]

I have an excel spreadsheet that i set up. Has all my cards, interest rates, minimum payments, additional payments, date due, date paid, account paid from, transactions from my bank account and then reconcile to there too.

 

I ended up just making up my own because I couldn't find one that I wanted to use.

 

Would love to use Mint but since it does not include my CU (which is who I have all my banking accounts with) I cannot. I asked them over 4 months ago to add the CU and it still hasn't been done.

[TroyP]

I have an excel spreadsheet that i set up. Has all my cards, interest rates, minimum payments, additional payments, date due, date paid, account paid from, transactions from my bank account and then reconcile to there too.

 

I ended up just making up my own because I couldn't find one that I wanted to use.

 

Would love to use Mint but since it does not include my CU (which is who I have all my banking accounts with) I cannot. I asked them over 4 months ago to add the CU and it still hasn't been done.

 

I use Yodlee because Mint doesn't have the bank I use. Mint looks to have better features, but if its not compatible, its useless to me.

[rmerck]

I use Quicken to pay my bills through all of my bank/credit union accounts, and download transactions and balances through credit cards and such.

 

However, I use Mint to make my budgeting attempts a breeze. I found Mint about a month ago, and it has phenomenally made budgeting easier for me.

 

But, because I don't ever have to log in to my bank/credit card/credit unions websites through Quicken's online center one at a time to pay bills, Quicken indeed proves invaluable to me. Plus, since my internet connection is shady at best, it makes my personal finances a breeze (I am anal about putting receipts and stuff for all of my transactions at the end of the day) since I don't need to worry about reconciling every other day.

[rmerck]

Well, I use Quicken primarily for tracking all of my finances. The main reason being is that my internet connection (via Verizon EVDO) is shady because of the immense amount of steel and concrete in my house.

 

So, with Quicken I:

 

Balance all of my registers in one spot:

*Banks

*Credit Unions

*Credit Cards

*CDs

*Auto Loans

*Medical Debts

 

Pay all of my bills without having to go to multiple websites (between online bill pay with different credit unions or banks)

Reconcile all of my balances without having to go to multiple websites

Forecast debt reduction plans (by far the best feature of Quicken for me)

 

However... Lately, I am a new found user of Mint, due to the fact that the budgeting ability is 30x more simpler and quicker than Quicken is. But, due to the fact that Mint is not a register you can just go adding transactions into, I still have a need for Quicken.

[cb_opus]

I have a simple spreadsheet - one tab per month, and I check my main bank's checking account daily.

 

I also have a checking and 4 "savings" accts with ING for sinking/out of sight/long term funds. (It's one acct, in reality, but ING lets you name any number of sub-accts, so it looks like they're separate. very helpful.)

 

No Quicken/no Mint/no Yodlee. My finances and budget are (alas!) simple enough for a spreadsheet.

[squirrelgirl]

For all intensive purposes, I use an excel spreadsheet. I do monitor my accounts additionally using Yodlee.

 

In the last few months, my "budgeting" has been restricted to one credit card for recurring purchases and cash (**gasp**) envelope system for everything else. I'm spending less.

[GEORGE]

Everything possible goes on a credit card...

 

Very few things have to be paid with a paper check

 

All bills possible are paid ON-LINE EFT

 

Other than a few purchases with vending machines...NO CASH

[TroyP]

I have a simple spreadsheet - one tab per month, and I check my main bank's checking account daily.

 

I also have a checking and 4 "savings" accts with ING for sinking/out of sight/long term funds. (It's one acct, in reality, but ING lets you name any number of sub-accts, so it looks like they're separate. very helpful.)

 

No Quicken/no Mint/no Yodlee. My finances and budget are (alas!) simple enough for a spreadsheet.

 

I use a simple spreadsheet to track my checking account balance (since I have a number of automated payments, and transfers scheduled, one of the problems with having several cards). I also keep a rough monthly budget in there. No sense in doing things the complicated way when the simple way will do.

[radi8]

No sense in doing things the complicated way when the simple way will do.

 

I can out-simple that.

I still use a green ledger book (paper) and a pencil. In the time it takes Quicken to load, I'm done already.

No worries about losing data, no backups needed. Just a big fire safe- which I have for other papers anyway.

Wanna know where check # 1005 went back in 1981? I can tell you in about 30 seconds.

[jojoblevins]

I use an excel spreadsheet. I plan out four or five months ahead of time to allow time for saving for larger planned expenses. I also have several accounts checking and several savings accounts each earmarked for specific uses. Dividing the money helps me stay clear about it's intention and keeps me from robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[cb_opus]

I use an excel spreadsheet. I plan out four or five months ahead of time to allow time for saving for larger planned expenses. I also have several accounts checking and several savings accounts each earmarked for specific uses. Dividing the money helps me stay clear about it's intention and keeps me from robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

+1

 

I think Quicken lets you do this (I don't use it, so don't know for sure).

 

I'm happy to let ING divvy up my sinking funds for me - I just added another one the other day.

 

It's especially helpful for me to keep HOI, auto, and rolling EF there, but separated. As the EF builds (it hasn't done much so far, since I'm still paying debt) I'll roll most into a higher yield, yet liquid acct, and keep 1 month's expenses max in ING.

[ArchonInitiative]

Budget worksheet I want to share:

http://www.3rd-millennium-inc.com/Finance/...te%20Budget.xls