Free monthly budget software?

[tzikeh]

I am trying to keep a much closer eye on where every penny goes during the month. I just need something where I can input how much comes in, what I spend it on, and any "surprise" income or expenses, that will tell me how much money I have left til X date, and how much that comes out to per day until X date. The only requirement other than that it run on OSX is that it's free.

I'm currently wandering through the instructions for:

Budget Tracker.

Buddi.

The PearBudget spreadsheet template that works with Excel and OpenOffice.

Mint.

Are any of you using any of these? What do you like about it? Do you use something that isn't on this list that you like?

Thanks for any info!

Comments

[stevenglassman.livejournal.com]

I'm a big pro-Mint person. I'm far more aware of my cash flow now than I ever was pre-mint. I used to use MS Money, but I hated having to load windows on my mac just for one program.

I've tried countless other finance programs on the mac, and none of them ever did less than irritating me.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hm.

The thing is, I want something really really simple. How much comes in, how much goes out, and what it goes out for. Don't need taxes, don't need investments, don't need to pay bills online or link it to my bank, etc.

Can Mint do *just* that and nothing else?

And I am still concerned about having my finances plugged into something that's on the internet, rather than just on my computer....

[stevenglassman.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I want something really really simple. How much comes in, how much goes out, and what it goes out for. Don't need taxes, don't need investments, don't need to pay bills online or link it to my bank, etc.

Can Mint do *just* that and nothing else?

That's how I use it. I mostly use it to see a) how much money I've got and b) where it's going to. It can show you by account or by spending category. Yes, it does investments and budgets and has all kinds of bells and whistles, but at the heart of it, I use it primarily to make sure that the money I spend is going where I *think* it's going.

And you can't do online billpay with Mint, btw- you can't move money in any fashion from mint. It's a read-only access.