Frugal Tips

Personal budget programs such as Quicken can be magnificent tools, but they aren't free. Worse than that, the manufacturers cut off support for older versions while the programs are still usable, forcing an upgrade to the new version at still more expense.

There is an alternative - open source software. These programs are created by volunteers, and can be remarkably powerful.

Many people start a budget process with the best of intentions, only to fail to keep accurate track of their spending.

Software can help with that. Using a program such as Quicken allows you to categorize and track every check according to your budget categories. You can also efficiently process your credit card expenditures in the same program. (You can avoid any expenditure by using one of the free alternatives to Quicken).