Plan your bill payments more effectively

Budgeting isn’t really something we can get away from. If it is winter, we’re thinking about our summer holidays, summer, and we’re thinking about the festive season. Obviously, we need a tried and trusted method of keeping our finances under control year-round, so that no financial event – expected or unexpected – will catch us out.

Budget is a tool to help people keep their money under control, and not just for life’s big events. It aims to help people avoid the unenviable position of not being able to meet their bills. To do this, it uses the envelope model, budgeting based on the old-fashioned strategy of dividing the month’s earnings into little paper envelopes marked with the expenses they are intended to pay. Then when the due date comes along, all you have to do is open the corresponding envelope, and hey presto, your bill is paid.

Budget transfers this method to the computer, setting you up with electronic ‘envelopes’. You configure the program, specifying your sources of income and expenditure, and adhere to the budget that the program specifies. If you stick to the plan, you should have no problem meeting your bills at the end of the month.

The only problem with Budget is the same complaint you can level at all similar programs – it doesn’t actually make it any easier to spend sensibly. It gives you a plan but you still need the willpower to stick to it. What Budget does do is make it easier by automating the figures and providing a set framework for the whole process. It also has some nice functions, like back-ups, reports and a start-up wizard that means you need almost no financial experience to use it.

Although not very slick, Budget is a program that makes budgeting simple. You’ll still need willpower though!

Fixed integrity errors that could occur while syncing with Budget Touch.Fixed selecting destination account when doing an account transfer.

Changes

• Fixed integrity errors that could occur while syncing with Budget Touch.Fixed selecting destination account when doing an account transfer.