Family Home Budget for Windows

User Reviews

• Invaluable and Powerful

  cherylamAugust 16, 2008

  Pros

  Great tool for the family budget! I bought the 2008 AND 2009 versions...it's that good!<p>* 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<p>* 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!<p>* 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<p>* 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.<p>*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<p>*links seamlessly with 2009 version<p>* 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.<p>*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)<p>* 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)<p>* 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.<p>* 2009 version has a graphs to show your actual bank balance each month; 2008 doesn't have it<p>* can either enter "cash" amounts or "credit" amounts in the same cell, and not both.<p>* 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?)

  Summary

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• Good progrma

  lcatharineFebruary 10, 2008

  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?

  Summary

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