Question Need a program or web service to get my finances in order.

[shortylickens]

Am willing to pay real money if needed, but will also consider free quality software if such a thing exists.

Need something that helps me keep track of income, taxes, bills, bank accounts, credit accounts, and other stuff. For a family of one. If it can help me actually pay credit bills and utilities then that would be awesome too.
As someone who still does everything by paper this will be a bit of a transition for me, and I'm aware I probably should have done this 10 years ago, but that's life.

 

[Muadib]

Have you looked at Mint? Several of my old co workers swore by it, but I never tried it.

Budget Tracker & Planner | Free Online Money Management | Mint

Take charge of your finances with Mint’s online budget planner. Our free budget tracker helps you understand your spending for a brighter financial future.

www.mint.com

 

[RLGL]

Quicken

 

[knght990]

I use mint.com. It was originally made by Intuit, the guys who make turbotax? It is web based but has iOS and Android apps.

It is good for most account and investment tracking and has a good budget tool. You can do bill pay. The interface is very simple to use.
It lacks a robust report system

it is free because it is ad driven.Ive actually found the credit card and investment ads useful though.

If you need something more robust, Personal Capitol does more but has a more complex interface. Still web based with apps.

If you just want windows based, Quicken is tradtionally the best.

 

[MtnMan]

I'll have to go with Quicken also. I manage all my checking, banking, credit, investments, bills, etc. with Quicken. There are features I don't use, as I prefer alternative methods such as billpay through my Credit Union. One click downloads all transactions from banks, credit card, investment companies.

I'm not a fan of the subscription plan for the software, but I'm OK with it given the functions it provides. The program is actually installed on my computer, and data is stored on my computer also. If the subscription expires, you still have the program and all your data. The only function you loose is downloading data from your financial institutions. You can still enter stuff manually. Online backup to their cloud storage is an option, but I prefer local backup, vs. theirs.

Purchasing through Amazon adds 2 months to the normal 12 month subscription.

There is also a mobile app companion program.

 

[bejellio]

Not what you are asking for, but thought I would throw my 2 cents in the hat.

Microsoft excel with Bank bill pay. If you don't immediately go to finance software, perhaps you can do an interim step away from paper.

 

[mikeymikec]

Americans do use direct debit, right?

 

[RLGL]

Americans do use direct debit, right?

Some people do, for some vendors it is the only way to use their services.

 

[mikeymikec]

Some people do, for some vendors it is the only way to use their services.

I'm just having difficulty understanding the OP. Every bill my wife and I get is handled by direct debit except the credit card (which I prefer to trawl through and then pay for through BACS).

Aside from that, I did up a 'finance plan' spreadsheet that includes our typical monthlies (most of them are fixed, one or two estimated) which helps me conclude how much we can realistically save and how much of a joint cc bill that we could handle, then whenever some figures change I save a new revised copy of the finance plan.