Recommend a budget software?

[CT Mechanic]

Hi,

I quit my job and am back in school at Pitt full time. I still have a house, mortgage and all the bills. Mostly, I'm living off savings. I also have some residual income. I'm also getting student loans.

I am having the hardest time planning my budget. I have it all in Excel, but it's getting too tough to manipulate everything. My biggest problem is planning for the future. I know I'll have enough to cover it all, but I'm not sure if the checks that are arriving in September are going to be too late for the bills due in July/August.

I've never had Quicken or any other budgeting software. Does anyone have any experience with these? Can these help you plan for the future as well, or are they pretty much just historical (keeping track of bills paid in the past)? My greatest need is in planning for the future. If Quicken can only record the past, I'll just stick with my current "system." I also don't need any help with printing/writing checks, or making payments over the internet (I know that's a big selling point of Quicken, and probably others as well).

I'd look into it myself, but my 6 courses are keeping me too busy to even get to hockey games, much less surf the internet and check these things out. So I thought I'd just ask here first.

Thanks,

CT M

[ExPatriatePen]

Just be careful with Quicken.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06054/659376.stm

[Daniel]

I have been using MS Money for a few years and it seems to be working fine. I also do an Excel spreadsheet to show what I should have, compared to what I do have at the end of the month. This tells me where I can cut back.