Scan & Fix 100 registry errors free
CNET Editors' review
If you don't have Microsoft Excel, you can skip Family Home Budget 2008, which is merely a workbook formatted to handle financial information and calculations. It offers a very generous 90-day trial period, but the trial restrictions render that extra time useless.
The spreadsheets in the workbook are well-organized, but the design is nothing to write home about. Everything is divided into columns and rows, with different budgets being represented in the tabs at the bottom of the screen. Users can manage their monthly budgets, long-term budgets, credit cards, and other information in this program. Presumably, users can manually input the data, and the spreadsheet will do all the necessary calculations to keep the numbers accurate. We say "presumably" because this trial version came to us as read-only, meaning we could not input data into the spreadsheet. While we found no information on the subject, we assume that this problem is eliminated once the software is purchased.
We find it hard to recommend a budgeting tool that is basically a file created in another program. We suggest you save your money and look for a program that stands alone and is willing to let you test its money management capabilities before buying.
Publisher's Description
From Bottomline Budget:
We offer a unique Budget spreadsheet for your home budget that offers the look and feel of a contemporary household budget ledger book while implementing the power of the PC to perform lighting fast financial calculations. Personal budgeting that allows for on the fly bill movement to meet real world issues. The straightforwardness of our family spreadsheets places your assets at the top, expenses in the middle, and the summary at the bottom. Personal budgeting that tells you the lowest your balance will be in the entire year. The 17 tabs at the bottom of your personal spreadsheet organize the entire year into 12 individual months and more. Just simple list the names of each household budget expense on the left hand side of the spreadsheet and place the expected cost in the appropriate week/or weeks. Our Family Style includes sections for Christmas, lay-a-way, and a credit card. See it first hand; download either the Basic Home Budget or the Family Home Budget today and try it for free on a rolling six week work window. Version 9.5t updated product codes.
What's new in this version: Version 9.5t updated product codes.
More Popular Personal Finance Software downloads
- Amortization Schedule for Excel
2,185 downloads
- Moffsoft FreeCalc
780 downloads
- Quicken Deluxe 2012
650 downloads
- AceMoney Lite
583 downloads
- Home Budget
494 downloads
-
All versions:
4.0 starsout of 2 votes
-
Current version:
0 stars Be the first to review this product -
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-2 of 2
-
"Invaluable and Powerful"
Version: Family Home Budget 9.5.1g
Pros
Great tool for the family budget! I bought the 2008 AND 2009 versions...it's that good!
* Weekly columns, great for seeing what expenses are made as income comes in, so this way you can make room for setting up some additional Savings if there's extra money left over or paying off some more debt
* Christmas Fund: great for setting a little bit aside each week or month, and seeing your grand total under the December tab to see if you're saving enough while it's still Summer!
* Savings and Misc Savings lines: great for setting aside some money in your account as a cushion for your unexpected expenses. The Misc Savings I find great for setting a little aside each month for those quarterly bill payments like home insurance or property taxes
* There's an adjustment line in case your actual bank balance doesn't match what your projected bank balance is at the end of the week. Great if you happen to not enter EVERYTHING to the dollar and can still "start over" again, unlike other budget sheets where once you screw up, the month is messed up and you have to start over again NEXT month.
*Credit card charges: if you have lots of credit card charges (pre-auths, for racking up points, etc), you can distinguish the amounts with a "c", and there's a separate spreadsheet that tracks all your credit card spending. And with the Credit Card Payoff line, you can tally up your charges and pay them off, and you'll be able to see from your weekly balance if you can pay all of it off this week or split the payments and pay some the following week when more income comes in. If i don't actually pay the credit card off, I carry the balance to the next week, which makes sure I still set aside that amount to pay the card off when the due date finally comes around
*links seamlessly with 2009 version
* I like that I can Format the cells with the "Fill" option when right-clicked. I shade the cell with a light pattern in the upcoming months when I know that something is being pre-authorized, whether from my account or on my credit card, so I know what an expense needs to be filled in when the time comes.
*Projected Budget: this amount is what I follow when spending for the following week, instead of going with what's actually in my bank account, because it doesn't include the amounts you're setting aside each week (like Christmas and savings)
* The Low Week amount: highlights weeks or months in advance when your projected bank balance is overdrawn and you've spent too much somewhere along the way.
Cons
* not enough expense lines (I prefer not to batch expenses together)
* a couple more Misc. Income lines, for separating those consistent misc income like child tax benefits from other random misc income amounts. I like to see these amounts distinguished.
* 2009 version has a graphs to show your actual bank balance each month; 2008 doesn't have it
* can either enter "cash" amounts or "credit" amounts in the same cell, and not both.
* like the Credit Card Payoff line, I'd like to see a dedicated Line of Credit Payoff line included or even a second Credit Card Payoff line for the second credit card (but, who are we kidding, who has only two?)
-
"Good progrma"
Version: Family Home Budget 9.5.1
Pros
I like how it is layed out and is easy to work with.
Cons
I would like the capability to add additional lines. I really do not like combining accounts on one line. Any suggestions?
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
