No Limits Ladies.com

Many of you single ladies (and married ones as well!) already have a plan in place for budgeting and tracking expenses, which is great. For some of you this is not something you have taken the time to look into much (incuding myself). I thought I'd do a little research on some of the budgeting software that is available for single women, good resources for anyone really, and just make some notes about it. I asked several of our PF Blogger friends to share a little about what they know or their thoughts on single women and budgeting software. Additional Comments from anyone who uses these or other programs are welcome!

The fabulous Budget Fashionista says:
"An accountant once told me an excellent piece of advice when it came to accounting- all you really need to know is what comes in and what goes out. I find the best way to keep track of if, especially if you're not technically inclined, is to just use a basic excel spreadsheet. In one column write down what you've spent... in the other column, what is coming in. It's easy, simple, and straight forward. "

"I have not used it but I hear that Wesabe is a good application for budgeting." said Nichele from Keeping Nickels(and also Ladies Who Launch) ?

Our girl over at Blunt Money had this to say:
"I pretty much just use Quicken (although I only use its basic features along with some reporting) and a couple of spreadsheets. I like Quicken for the long-term tracking and ease of reconciling. I use the spreadsheets to help visualize my monthly spending by category compared month-over-month, and to track networth."

The Millionaire Artist tells us:
I am on a Mac and use software called "Checkbook". I absolutely love it... its just flexible enough to be able to set up multiple accounts and charts but not so overwhelming that it becomes daunting or confusing. (And, I like the way it looks, as a visual person, that's important to me).

Here's a link to an entry I wrote on the subject last year. I took issue with the name of another program I had been using."

Elizabeth over at Money for the Rest of Us had some good things to say as well:
"I've tried using Quicken and Money and in the end have just preferred a simple Excel Spreadsheet. Just recently I've integrated that into Google Docs/Spreadsheets, so now I keep my budget each month on a Google Spreadsheet.

I really like this method because I can access my budget from any computer and know how much I've spent in a category without being at my house. I also like it because I can share my budget with my partner.

I prefer updating my budget myself (rather than importing my expenses into software) because it forces me to see exactly where I'm spending my money and I can't glance over any particular expense. Here's a post I wrote about using Google Spreadsheets for Your Budget.

I think it's interesting that you're breaking it up between being single and being married/partnered. I think that once you're living with a significant other you need to start budgeting together because so many of your expenses are shared. (I'm definitely not saying that you should combine accounts, just compare budgets.)

Even in college my roommate (not a significant other) and I would talk about how much we were spending each month on rent/utilities/groceries, even going out to restaurants. Because when you live with someone you often just say, "Oh I don't have cash can you pay this time and I'll get it next time." This can create some issues if you don't talk about money and who owes whom what. (Wow, I didn't realize I had so much to say...)"

Our friend Amanda (Young and Broke) shared:
"I've always been pretty old school and used Excel. I find that keeping a budget simple, and using fairly simple categories, allows for both structure and flexibility.

For example, I know that some people like to list out EVERYTHING they might spend money on (Entertainment, Groceries, Dining Out, Clothes, etc.). What I do is more similar to a "reverse budget". I use Excel and break things down by paycheck (15th and 30th/31st), and then I list all my fixed expenses for that period.

To the right I use two columns "Amount" and then "Actual". Amount is the standard amount that I pay for these things, and Actual is the actual amount that payment is.

Then, below expenses I have a section for Saving, with the same two columns to the right. (I've attached an example I created that could be customized by individual). Any money that is excess goes towards savings or any miscellaneous expense.

Here are some links to previous posts I've written on the subject:

How Do You Stay on Budget?

Budgeting, Revisted

Budgeting Worksheet

Cash Flow Cafe had a great post about the best budgeting and financial software; what is currently out there, what he does, and some other options It was interesting to note that the two "best selling" are not necessarily the two best to use. He admits that Excel can be confusing to set up, but also shares who that he uses www.youneedabudget.com.

Personally, I discovered Money Pants.com from Nina a while back. And while I have not been a faithful user, I really like that it is fun and easy to use, and won't break the bank at $9.00 a month.

Hopefully you have found some good resources here!