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LLMom
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| Posted: Jan 16 2008 at 10:50pm | IP Logged
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Anyone use this or something similar? Dh and I are flooded with banking problems. Balancing the check book is such a long process. We have quicken on our computer. I started to enter all of the info and it about drove me crazy. Does it get better once I get all my stuff in? Any better programs?
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
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PDyer
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| Posted: Jan 16 2008 at 11:07pm | IP Logged
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I've used Quicken for years and can't imagine life without it, but I'm a CPA and I like this sort of thing.  Is there any way I can help you figure out how to make it work for you?
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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LLMom
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| Posted: Jan 17 2008 at 6:57am | IP Logged
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Patty,
I'm not really having a problem; its just very time consuming to enter in everything. I don't have PIN on some of my savings accounts so I am going to have to get one. I am wondering/hoping once I take all of this time to do stuff that it will actually be significantly easier and less time consuming than the old-fashioned way.
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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KC in TX
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Yes, once you get all the stuff entered, it should be easy, but you should only need to enter from your last statement (the balance and then further transactions). To balance month to month becomes much, much easier.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
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mom2mpr
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It didn't work for me. Too much time. I would enter stuff in my checkbook and then have to enter it in Quicken. Double work. And entering the credit card receipts-YUCK!!
That said I have considered it again, buying the checks to have them print out.
Also, consider your bank and online banking. You can set bills up to be paid a certain date and also get reports on cash flow from them. I have slowly been getting this going and it seems to work better for me. When the checks clear-they are there!! No double entry.
Good luck in your quest for more financial organization--I am getting there and it is a relief to feel I have a (small) handle on things
Anne
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LLMom
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I was under the impression that once I entered my info that my bank statement would be downloaded into quicken and it would balance it for me and I wouldn't have to do everything twice. AM I missing something?
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Lisa
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KC in TX
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I have an older version that does not do that. Things were just going on-line when I purchased my Quicken.
That sounds fabulous though.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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PDyer
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LLMom wrote:
| I was under the impression that once I entered my info that my bank statement would be downloaded into quicken and it would balance it for me and I wouldn't have to do everything twice. AM I missing something? |
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It might be possible to do that, but that's not the way I use Quicken. For our bank accounts I use Quicken as a check register. I manually enter transactions into the register, either after I've made an online payment or after I've written a manual check. We use carbon checks for our manual checks to make sure we don't forget to communicate "hey, honey, I wrote a check". Once all the payments and deposits are in the system I use the paper bank statement to reconcile the transactions.
I have the sense that many people download transactions from their banking institutions and keep track that way, but I used to be an auditor (and audited banks sometimes) and I can't quite let go of my need to have independent verification of my transactions in a way I can see it.
For credit cards I enter all our charges manually and check them (using the reconciliation function) against the statement when it comes in the mail.
I think the speed of the reconciliaton function and the investment functions are worth the time it takes me to do this. You can set up your budget in Quicken, use savings goals to put money aside, all sorts of things. I know we're not using the program to its full potential, but I've been really happy with the functions that we do use.
I hope you find a way to make it work for you.
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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teachingmyown
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I couldn't survive without it! I have been using it for years. The version I have, a couple of years old, lets me download my bank statements. I sit down once a week and enter checks I have written, bills I have scheduled and then reconcile the account. It is very easy.
Quicken will also help you make a budget, build spending reports and forecast your financial future based on your spending pattern.
It has bill reminders you can set up, which is great for me because I have a habit of forgetting bills especially the online ones.
Hmmm...I am sure there are more great things I could say about it. I will just end by saying that once you get the hang of it, you won't go back to paper, pencil and calculator.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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J.Anne
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Love it. It really does help with budgeting etc. I miss it on my new Mac. I haven't had the spare cash to buy again. It does take some time, but there is also a great sense of peace in knowing exactly where your money in going. I'm a big fan of pie charts.
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JodieLyn
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I use it as Patty does.. it's basically my fancy checkbook register.
I use duplicate checks.. so the ONLY place I enter info is into Quicken.. it remembers transactions.. it reminds me when bills are due.. so often I just tab from the date.. hit one letter or number and it shows the correct check number or the atm or dep and then type the first 2 letters or so of the person/place and it finishes filling it in.. and then I just type the amount and hit enter.
I have a spot in my wallet where all my debit slips go.. and again I only enter them into the computer.
reconciling is very easy.. and mine is way to old to do anything like reconciling itself.. But still.. it's a list on my screen and I just look at my bank statement and one click checks the transaction on the screen.
My quicken is 2001 so unless I want to use the newer functions (I'm happy with the way I do it) there's no reason to HAVE to update it.
Oh another thing I love about it.. I can put in amounts like I always keep $100 set aside for my dh.. that means he can get gas or lunch or have money for an unexpected trip with work (he has a work credit card but sometimes needs cash) and he won't mess up the rest of my checkbook. I just give it a date in the future and it sits there at the bottom of the screen taking that extra $100 off so that I not only can find it again but I won't forget it either.
I'll do the same if I have a payment that we need to set aside money from 2 paychecks to get or such.
way way more flexible for me than a hand written check register because you can change and delete and add items very easily
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