What is a good program to control a family's finances?

Question

I have a wife and two kids. I was wondering if there was a way I could enter all of our income and our expenses and it would calculate it all.

Answer 1

hello - quicken is good as the eprson above suggests.  or create a spreadsheet where you lay it all out - google financial spreadsheets and a few will come up as well.  mint.com may be useful for you.  

here are some more tips and ideas -

List out how much money you have coming in each month (paycheck, alimony, side jobs, etc.).

List out what your fixed costs are (rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone, cable, student loans, commute costs etc.) If you have credit card debt look at how much per card and which has the highest interest rates.

Track it by category -

retirement (401K, etc.)

home

car (payment, insurance, etc.)

gas

cable/electric/water

groceries

eating out

clothing

movies/plays (include the popcorn)

books

newspaper (if you already paid your news paper or magazine subscription, figure out the monthly cost and include that)

hanging out with friends (bar, pool etc)

non meal related drinks/snacks (Starbucks, diet coke, snacks)

other

other

(other could be alimony, whatever, things I did not list out but you have to pay)

and you will see quickly where your money is going to go. Then you can see if it is all the right places, or if you want to make a change and not buy so many clothes, see so many movies (or pass on the popcorn) etc. Do you need to have the car you have or is there a way to get a vehicle without a car payment? Do you need HBO?

Consider what is really important to you and what is not and spend accordingly.

Be sure to put all left over money into retirement savings somewhere and not just spend it on something else (or put it towards paying down credit card debt). And keep tracking what you spend for at least 6 months. that will help you get into habits and patterns that are good ones.

Retirement savings are very important, so if you have a 401K or the equivalent, dont stop contributing to that. I see so many questions here about stopping contributing or taking the money already saved out, dont do that. The value of the compound interest is huge.

feel free to email me for more info if you like

good luck

Answer 2

No program can "control" your family's finances. That's up to you. But the best program to "track" your family's finances is Quicken. You can buy it at any store which sells computer software, or you can download it at www.quicken.com

Answer 3

The major expense to which most families expose themselves is making an automobile purchase before it is needed.  I see friends now who are caught up the hype of hybrid vehicles.  The sales tax alone makes the practice of frequent trading of automobiles a losing deal.  Then add the "hit" you take from the dealership is another expense.  The family should be committed to a shared responsibility to reduce expenditures.  But, the automobile retention plan is one single best idea for limiting outflows from your family budget. Clothing is an area where all of us could be much more viligent.  The term "it is just this one little extra" is inconsistent with your big picture family goal.  More importantly spending cutbacks will build a greater sense of responsibility in the kids.  This should not be a soft budget reduction. You people have to be smarter than the U.S. Congress!   Good luck.