I love Quicken. A lot. More than any normal, healthy person should, I mean. I balance my checkbook almost every day just so I can see all the pretty charts, calendars and graphs it makes for me.
Before Quicken, there was no balancing my accounts. There was just the knowledge and hope (mostly hope) that I had money there. There was the checking of the atm receipt, and the occasional phone call to the automated system to make sure there was still money.
And then there was Quicken! I could download my bank statements right into it! I could set up spending categories! I could make up a budget! I could enter all my monthly bills and have it remind me to pay them on time!
Most importantly, though, was the pictures it made with my money! A pie chart that showed that ‘rent’ took the biggest bite out of my check. A calendared bar chart that showed my daily balance over the last month. Comparison charts so I could compare this month’s spending to last month’s.
Who knew, all that time, I was just a graph and a chart away from fiscal responsibility.