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^C^1Simple Budget
^C(or "Bud" for short)
^Cby
^CRichard Hamel

   This program is for all of you who need to keep better track of where your
money is coming and going.  It will let you see at a glance what bills remain
unpaid, and show you a total which lets you see how your account balance will be
affected once they are paid.  And, it generates attractive on-screen charts to
show at a glance how income and outgo stack up month-by-month.

   All of the features of the program are based on various transactions taking
money into and out of one account, usually your personal checking account.  To
use this program properly, you must be sure to record all transactions involving
your account, so that the balance remains correct.

   The main menu gives you the following options:

   ^11. Make Deposit.^0  When you press 1 from the main menu, you will be asked for
a name and amount.  For the name, enter a string that describes the nature of
the deposit (e.g. "Paycheck"); for the amount, enter the dollars-and-cents
amount of the deposit (e.g. "123.45").

   After making an entry, you'll be asked "Correct (Y/N)?"  Say Yes if the entry
was done correctly, No if you made a mistake and don't wish it to be entered.
If you say No, you'll be asked if you want to re-enter it; saying Yes will give
you another chance to type the transaction, while No gets you back to the main
menu without entering any new transactions.  Once you're done entering a
transaction, and you say Yes to its correctness, it will be entered into the
disk file, and you'll be asked if you want to enter another.

   Anything that increases the balance of your account should be entered as a
deposit, including interest earned.

   ^12. Record Bill.^0  This option lets you tell the program about a bill you owe
but have not yet paid.  It works similarly to the Deposit option, and places a
bill on the list for the current month.

   ^13. Pay Bill.^0  This option lets you pay bills which have been entered with the
Record Bill option.  You are asked for the month the bill was entered; type its
three-letter abbreviation.  You will then be presented with a list of bills in
that month.  Type the number associated with the bill you want to pay, then
enter the amount you are paying.  (This needn't always coincide with the amount
of the bill, since overpayments and underpayments are permitted in some cases.
If a payment is less than the balance, the bill will be carried on the list as
an unpaid bill of the difference between the amount owed and the amount paid.)
If a payment is greater than the balance, the bill will be carried as paid, and
the difference is listed as an overpayment.  The payment is assumed to be from
your checking account, and is hence deducted from your account balance.

   ^14. Cash and Checks.^0  This option is used to enter all withdrawals from your
checking account not connected with the payment of bills.  Include all other
checks you write, as well as automatic-teller withdrawals and other transactions
which reduce the balance of your account.  (Any monthly charges imposed by the
bank should be included here too.)

   ^15. Change Initial Balance.^0  This option is used to enter or change the
initial balance for the year.

   ^16.  Review.^0  This option lets you see the data in various formats.  You
are presented with a sub-menu with options as follows:
   1. Monthly Entries: gives you a list of transactions for a given month.
   2. Monthly Balances: shows totals and net balance for each month.
   3. Unpaid Bills: shows you all bills that remain unpaid.
   4. Chart: gives you a bar graph that shows you where you stand.
   0. Main Menu: returns you to the main menu.

   ^17. Clear Budget Files.^0  This lets you clear the data for the current year.
You are asked if you want to do this.  If you answer yes, then all of the
balances for the year's data are set to zero.

   ^18. Change Date.^0  This lets you change the current date.  It is important to
have the correct value for the date, so that transactions are properly recorded.
If the system date is incorrect (e.g., you didn't set the date when you booted
and let it default to "Jan. 1, 1980"), you must set it within this program
before you make any entries.  Alternatively, if you've procrastinated in making
entries and wish to pretend that it's an earlier date than the present, you can
turn back the clock with this option too.  To enter a date before 1900 or after
1999, you must enter all four digits.  If you change the year, then the program
automatically accesses the correct data.  If the files do not exist, then you
are asked if you want to create them.  The extensions of the data correspond to
the last two digits of the year, so make sure you've got a backup before you
start entering data for 2088.  (NOTE:  Since each year's data is in a separate 
file, if you want to enter any new data pertaining to items in a preceding or 
following year, such as paying bills in January that were entered in December, 
you'll have to temporarily change the date to the year you're working with.)

   ^10. Quit.^0  This exits the program.

   To run this program from outside the BIG BLUE DISK menu, type ^1BUD^0.

DISK FILES THIS PROGRAM USES:
^FBUD.EXE
^FBRUN30.EXE
^FRETURN30.EXE
^FBAL.88
^FBUD.88
^FMON.88