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The Monthly Budget Program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 1991, Richard S. Haseltine
Riverside Software
RR3, Box 830
Orrington, Maine, 04474
For a prompt reply, you are encouraged to send any comments, good
or bad, by electronic mail through any of the following BBS's:
Lobster Buoy: 207-941-0805 Eagle's Haven:207-469-6732
Laurie's Garden :207-469-3585 Genie E-Mail (R.Haseltine2)
Genie IBMRT, Pg 615;1, Support Cat.30, Topic 7
Thank you for trying BUDGET. This program is offered to the public as
Shareware, which means that it is not meant to be free. According to
the honor principle underlying Shareware, it is your duty to give the
program a fair trial, and, if it is beneficial to you, to register it
with me for the low fee of $20. Doing this results in much more than
an investment in just this one program....you are supporting a system of
distribution that over the years can save you hundreds of dollars in
software investment. You also give me needed encouragement and other
software developers. With your support we will continue the production of
reliable software for your consideration.
We do not ask for a registration fee if the program is not beneficial to
you. What could be more fair? We enter into the Shareware system of
distribution knowing full well that a certain minority will milk the
system for all it is worth. But we know too that the majority of users
are honorable men and women and will support the Shareware distribution
system.
The development of many fine programs has occurred over a period of time
in this system. The authors rely on the people who try their programs
for their ideas for improvement. Please let me hear from you if you
have any suggestions.
Disclaimer:
~~~~~~~~~~
Users of *BUDGET* accept this disclaimer or warranty:
"*BUDGET* is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties,
expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warran-
ties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The
author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential,
which may result from the use of *BUDGET*, or its related pro-
grams, *INITBUDG* and *BUDSETUP*."
Your BUDGET disk contains six files:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. BUDGET.EXE: You will use this program the most...to maintain the budget.
2. INITBUDG.EXE: You will use this program to set up your budget and to
later make additions to or deletions from your budget.
3. BUDSETUP.EXE: You may use this program to determine questions about
back-ups and to set up your own color scheme if desired.
4. BUDGDATA: This is a data file in which you will save your budget data.
5. CRLVALUE: This data file saves the color values used in the programs.
6. BUDGET.DOC: Please read this before running any of the programs. It would
be helpful to you if you printed it out. (about 8 pages)
HARD DISK USERS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have three programs to install, and two data files. There is also
the manual, Budget.Doc. The three programs and the two data files
should be filed in the same directory file similar to the following:
MKDIR \C:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\BUDGET.EXE
MKDIR \C:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\INITBUDG.EXE
MKDIR \C:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\BUDSETUP.EXE
MKDIR \C:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\BUDGDATA
MKDIR \C:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\CLRVALUE
MKDIR \C:\DOCUMENTS\BUDGET.DOC
You should run Budsetup.Exe first because the programs need to know
your desires concerning your data back-up files. You can elect to have
no back-up files if you enjoy 'living on the edge'. You can file your
back-up file on your hard disk, or on a floppy disk, or whatever system
you desire.
FLOPPY DISK USERS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copy the program disk onto a new disk to serve as your back-up disk. This
should be done whether you have one or two drives.
1. Place Dos disk in drive A
2. Type 'diskcopy a: b:'
3. Instructions will come on the screen, telling you what
to put in what drive.
For a floppy disk user, the programs automatically save data to the
program disk and to your back-up disk. If you have only one disk drive,
the program will prompt you as to the proper procedure to follow. If
you do not prepare a back-up disk, the program will crash at this point.
WHAT TO DO FIRST:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You must first run the 'BUDSETUP' program.
Type 'BUDSETUP'
NUM LOCK:
~~~~~~~~~
The programs each set the keypad to figures rather than to arrows.
The light will not be on, and if you turn it on, you will get the arrows
on the keypad. It is best not to turn it on during the programs' duration.
When I wanted the effect of arrows, for moving the cursor, I have used
the numeric value of the key.
OBTAINING PRINTER OUTPUT:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A note of caution: Be sure your printer is on before you ask for a
print-out of any material. The programs periodically offer you
the opportunity to make hard copies of your budget pages. To do so, you
follow the instruction to press <SHIFT> and <PRTSC>. If you have no
printer, just press any key and you'll skip the print-out.
DESCRIPTION OF BUDGET PROGRAM:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This program brings to the computer system the age-old envelope
budgeting system. You'll recall that in this system on each payday the
appropriate amounts of cash were placed in the GROCERY envelope, in the
RENT envelope, in the Clothes envelope, etc. The envelopes were often
kept as a file in an old shoebox. It is an ideal system because when the
bill comes due, the money is there in the envelope to pay it. However,
the system is terribly unwieldy.
With this program the shoebox is now your CHECKING ACCOUNT. The envelopes
are RESERVE ACCOUNTS in your CHECKING ACCOUNT. Through data furnished by
you, the computer knows how much goes in each RESERVE account each month.
When you enter your expenditures, it keeps an accurate balance of each
account. So the first step in using this program is to furnish the
computer the data it needs. To do this, you load the INITBUDG file:
Type INITBUDG <ENTER>
THE INITBUDG (initiate budget) PROGRAM:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a notepad, list all your accounts. Some of your accounts charge
interest each month. We'll call these TIME-PAYMENT ACCOUNTS, or TP
for short. These are the accounts that are paid off over a period of
time and include charge accounts, mortgage accounts, car purchase
accounts, etc. List these accounts first. Note down how many TP
accounts you have.
Now list all the remaining accounts you wish to establish. Establish
an account for each of the expenses you are liable to face in the
coming year. This part of the list will include ELEC, GROC, CLTHS,
MED (medical), DR., GAS, REPRS (car repairs), EDUC, HEAT, anything you
want to save for, etc. Note the total of all your accounts. Make 'MISC'
your last account. The programs need to know when you're using the
'MISC' account in order to branch to a special routine used for this
account alone. This program will support a list of 38 budget items.
The program will pretty much run itself by your following the input
prompts at the bottom of the screen. After you have answered the initial
questions about number of accounts, the screen will display a series
of column headings. The number '1' is displayed and the program awaits
your input.
You can probably start immediately entering you budget, reading the
text as needed as you go along. I recommend printing the Doc file...about
eight pages.
CODE
~~~~
You will name each account with a CODE. The code is limited to five
characters or less. 'Repairs' becomes 'REPRS'; 'clothing' becomes
'CLTHS'. Try to arrive at a code that is readable. When you have
entered the code, the cursor moves to the next column and the program
awaits your input.
ANNUAL INTEREST RATE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The annual interest rate is usually listed on each monthly bill. Do not
enter the monthly interest rate. The rate may be stated as 18%. You
enter .18. If 13.9%, enter .139. Just be sure to start with a decimal
point. The cursor moves on.
ESCROW:
~~~~~~~
The escrow amount is an amount charged for future taxes or insurance
payments to be made by the bank on a mortgage account. If your account
has no escrow charge, just enter '0'. The cursor moves on.
BALANCE:
~~~~~~~~
The balance owed on your account is usually stated on your monthly
statements. This is the only area of the program where we do not claim
absolute accuracy. As you make each payment, the program computes your
interest charge and adjusts your remaining balance accordingly. Due to
the various ways banks, etc. have of computing their interest charges,
our results will not be precise. It will, however, be very close. The
facility to periodically replace our figure with the bank's is included
in the program. The cursor moves on.
PAYMENT WHEN DUE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter here the payment you are required to make each month, or the
amount you wish to budget each month. Leave your 'MISC' account
flexible. Enter '0' for its PAYMENT column. If you are billed monthly,
enter the monthly amount; if quarterly, enter the quarterly amount; if
annually, enter the annual amount. If it's an account you are not
billed for like Clothes, Recreation, Groceries, enter the amount you
wish to budget each month.
FREQUENCY OF PAYMENT:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter here how often you are required to pay on the account. Enter
'M' if monthly, 'Q' if quarterly, 'S' if semiannually, 'A' if annually.
Enter one of these for those accounts that demand payment when due.
Other accounts, such as a clothing account do not demand a payment from
you except any payment you impose on yourself. We call these accounts
'indefinite' accounts. You can decide in any given month not to budget
anything for such an account, and you have to answer to no one for your
decision. Enter 'I' for these accounts. Other accounts which may be 'I'
accounts are DR., MED, REPRS, and MISC. The BUDGET program uses these
symbols as part of its procedure in highlighting the accounts that are
due each week. Please be careful to choose the proper symbol.
THE ARREARS ACCOUNT:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ARREARS account is maintained automatically by the program. Ideally,
when setting up a budget, one should have the money on hand to
immediately bring all accounts up to date. For example, if one had an
account paid semiannually coming due in two more months, he should have
four months already in that account's reserve. In all likelihood, this
will not be the case. Therefore, the account is four months in arrears.
If each month's budget amount were $20 for this account, the arrears
account will show a $20 x 4mos=-$80 arrears. The arrears account shows
you at a glance the status of any given account. This will guide you in
the judicious use of the small amounts of surplus you hopefully have
each week. By applying these amounts to the accounts in arrears, you can
bring your budget gradually to the ideal state. Please don't be
discouraged if your arrears amounts are high at first. Simply apply
anything you can to them, and gradually you'll reduce them to $0.00
amounts. Notice that after you have entered the Frequency of payment
info, you are then asked for the number of payments you may be behind
for that account, and the amount of the arrears is amended as necessary.
The cursor then returns to start the next account.
When you have entered all your TP accounts, you will notice that the
cursor jumps from the Code entry to the Payment entry, skipping the
Interest and Escrow columns. Notice, too, that arrears are not calcu-
lated for the 'I' accounts.
CHANGES?:
~~~~~~~~~
When you have finished making all your budget entries, type 'D'(done).
You will be asked if you wish to make any changes. If you answer 'Y',
the cursor will appear at the upper left of your screen, and an instruc-
tion on moving the cursor appears at the bottom of the screen. Using
the arrow keys you can move to any column except the ARREARS column.
If you correct the Payment column, you will also be required to re-enter
the Frequency of payment data and a new arrears will be calculated for
you. When you have finished making corrections, answer 'N' to the
Changes? question.
PRINTING AND SAVING DATA:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By pressing Shift PRT SC, you can make a hard copy of your budget with
your printer. But before this, your data is saved on both your main disk
and your back-up disk. To skip the print-out, simply press any key.
You are then returned to the MENU.
INCOME DATA AND ANALYSIS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Select the third Menu option and the headings of the INCOME box appear
on the screen. Number 1 will be displayed, and the program awaits your
input. There is allowance for six sources of income.
INCOME CODE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter the code of your first source of income. The CODE is limited to
five letters or less. The cursor moves to the Amount column.
AMOUNT ENTRY:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter the amount and how often you receive it. The final amount
that is displayed will be a monthly figure. For example, if your source
came to you Quarterly, you would enter the quarterly amount, and
designate that you receive it quarterly ('Q'). The program divides it
by 3(months) and prints the monthly amount. This enables the program to
do a brief analysis of your Income/Budget figures.
CHANGES?:
~~~~~~~~~
The correction routine is the same as the Budget correction routine.
Simply follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen.
ANALYSIS:
~~~~~~~~~
Next, an abbreviated version of your budget is displayed and its total
amount is compared to your Income amount. The difference between the
two, if surplus, represents your power to improve your financial
position. It is the only money you have that is free of obligation.
May you use it wisely.
If the Income/Budget comparison yields a deficiency, you may wish
to adjust your budget. Suggestions will be displayed on the screen and
you will be given the options of adjusting the budget, the income, or
continuing.
SAVINGS ACCOUNT:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have no savings account, simply follow the instructions to set
one up for possible use in the future. The Savings account is set up
in categories. For instance, you may have an semi-annual payment to
make on your car-insurance. Category 1 could be coded 'CRINS' and each
week you could transfer the budget amount into savings to earn interest
for you, then transfer it back when it is time to pay the bill. Other
categories could be something you wanted to save for, or persons'
initials to establish savings accounts for members of your family.
Transferring money to the Savings Account within the computer of
course does not actually put the amounts into a Savings account. This
you would do by calling the bank and asking that a transfer be made
from your Checking account to your Savings account. There is allowance
for five categories in the Savings Account. Please be sure to use the
same code as you used in setting up your budget for those categories
intended to hold money transferred from your budget accounts until the
bill becomes due (Quarterly,Semiannual, and Annual accounts).
CHANGES?:
~~~~~~~~~
Corrections routine is the same as the Budget routine.
CURRENT CHECKING ACCOUNT BALANCE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter here only the Checking Account current balance. Do not enter
any total cash-on-hand amounts. The reason will be explained soon.
PRINT AND SAVE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your data is then saved and you may now print the current display on
your printer. If you have no printer, simply press any key to skip a
printout.
You have now completed your Budget set-up and will only use this
program again if you wish to add or delete Budget items.
You will be returned to the MENU. Select the option to 'load Budget
program', and it will be done. At the start of future session you will
use only the BUDGET program:
TYPE Budget (when you start your next session)
USING THE BUDGET PROGRAM:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Routine use of the BUDGET program involves four activities:
1. Entering the amounts SPENT since your last deposit
2. Entering your new income and the amount you have deposited
3. Distributing your deposit to your various accounts
4. Entering the amounts you decide the spend during this session.
FIRST SESSION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Select the 'Deposit' choice on the MENU.
You will see your budget displayed. Note that all the RESERVE accounts
are $0.00. In the lower right corner your Checking Account balance is
displayed. Note that the RESERVE amount is $0.00, and that the FREE
Balance amount equals the TOTAL amount. It is requested that you always
distribute the entire amount of Free Balance into your Reserve columns.
Your unexpected needs will be taken care of through the MISC Reserve,
and the amount of cash you withhold from your deposit. This program
does not keep track of your cash expenditures. They are treated here
like 'Petty Cash' accounts. The TOTAL amount should always agree with
the RESERVE amount. I am firmly convinced that one of the primary
reasons so many of us end up with so little to show for our years of
effort, is because we did not make regular, judicious decisions about
how to best use the many, many small surplus amounts we had left
each payday over the years. By requesting that you distribute ALL money
in your checking account to some purpose, I am asking you to do what so
many of us failed to do over the years. After all, that small surplus
is the only real power you have in bettering your financial position.
Comply with this request, and I can almost guarantee that, a year down
the road, it will amaze you how well you are doing! (End of Lecture!)
If you have just made a deposit that is not included in your reported
Checking Account Balance, then do so now. List the total amounts of each
income source, decide what you need for 'petty cash` and deposit
the rest. If no deposit has been made, then enter $0.00 for all amounts.
THE TRIAL-RESERVE ACTIVITY:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The screen display highlights the pertinent columns you will be working
with now. You are offered the facility of automatic entry of the budget
amounts of each account. If you answer 'Y', the program will enter the
budget amount of column two into the Trial Reserve column. This is
called a TRIAL Reserve Activity because you can experiment all you wish
and until you give your final approval nothing is permanently done.
Note the options you have, listed in green at the bottom of the screen.
By Typing 'E' when asked for an amount, a correction routine comes into
play. Please note that while the prompt is the question as to whether of
not to use the Automatic entry, The program will not respond to the
'green commands'. At this point, if you wish to enter a 'green command'
answer the prompt with 'N'.
By typing 'A',you can get a report of the arrears of any account. By
typing 'X', you can transfer amounts between accounts. By typing 'M22'
the cursor jumps to account #22. Use this also during correction
routines. Typing 'D' signifies your approval of what you have done, and
causes the amounts to be transferred from the TRIAL RESERVE column to the
RESERVE column. Remember, to use these options, answer the AUTOMATIC
question 'N'.
Note that as you enter amounts into the TRIAL RESERVE column, the amount
is deducted from your FREE Checking account balance, and added to the
RESERVE total. Bear in mind that during this activity, you are not
spending money. You are only distributing it into the RESERVE accounts.
Also bear in mind that your actual checking account balance and reserves
are not really changing. Nothing becomes permanent until you signify
your approval by typing 'D' (done).
When your FREE Balance equals $0.00, and you are satisfied with what you
have done, answer 'N' to the AUTOMATIC question, and then enter 'D'
(done). The amounts are transferred into the RESERVE accounts, and after
saving the date and printing the page, you enter the SPENT activity.
THE SPENT ACTIVITY:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, if you have some bills to pay, you may enter the amounts into the
Spent Column. Note that as you do, the amount is deducted from the
pertinent RESERVE column, from the CHECKING account Reserve, and from
the CHECKING account TOTAL balance in the lower right corner of the
display. You have the same options at the bottome of the screen. You will
find the move-cursor option to be very helpful in moving around the
screen. When finished, type 'D' and after saving the data and printing
the page, you are returned to the menu.
ARREAR/BALANCE/INCOME TOTALS/ACCRUED BALANCES REPORT:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Select this choice from the MENU, and a report is displayed of all your
ARREARS, TP BALANCES, ACCRUAL BALANCES (what you've spent on each non-TP
account this year), SAVINGS BALANCE PER CATEGORY, INCOME ACCRUALS FOR
the YEAR.
A further word about arrears activity. Each time you move from the
DEPOSIT routine to the TRIAL RESERVE routine, each account's arrears
account is debited with that accounts monthly budget figure. For example,
let's say your Phone account allows for a bill of $20.As you enter the
TR section, let's assume the Phone arrears is $0. When you have arrived
at the TR section, your Phone arrears is now -$20. When you distribute
$20 into the Phone account reserve, the arrears again becomes $0. If
you skip budgeting the Phone account that month, the Phone arrears
remains at -$20. Thus, at a glance, you can determine the status
of each account at any time.
You may change any arrears amount or any TP balance at this time. You
may then save your data and print out this page. Next, a Payment
Directive will be displayed. This will list all payments you have made
this session, and can serve as a guide in making out your checks. On the
right side, the Grocery, Gas, and Misc. amounts are totaled, and
subtracted from the Total Reserve amount. The resulting balance is your
'Minimum Balance', the amount you must not spend in the coming week to
keep your budget intact. Of course, if the amount is budgeted for, then
you may spend it without affecting the integrity of your Budget.
SECOND SESSION AND THEREAFTER:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From now on, each session will consist of these steps:
1. Choose first option from MENU, the SPENT option, and record all
the checks you have made out since your last session. Save the
data, and print it, and return to the MENU.
2. Choose the second option from MENU, the DEPOSIT option, and record
your total incomes and any new deposits.
3. Distribute your deposit into your Reserve columns in the TRIAL
reserve routine.
4. Enter any new expenses you are paying in this session. Save the
data and print out the page.
5. Choose the fifth option, ARREARS, etc. display, save the data,
print it and then the Payment directive will be displayed. Save the
data, print it and you are done.
A FINAL WORD:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of our paychecks are spent before we ever receive them due to
commitments and promises we have made in the past. In a sense we should
realize that very little of each paycheck is truly ours to spend in
accordance with our free will. I emphasize, therefore, the importance of
that small amount left over when you have finished distributing your
deposit. I call these amounts 'surpluses', but they are actually surplus
amounts only when your budget is up to date. Skip a budget session and
you can later make it up. What you will have lost, however, is your
opportunity to seriously think about what best to do with that small
surplus. Funny thing about those monthly surpluses.....if not dealt with
immediately, they tend to just up and disappear. That's what has
happened to most of us over the years. I hope you won't let it happen
to you. Good luck and good fortune.
