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Text File | 1992-10-22 | 28KB | 524 lines

The Weekly 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 GE Mail (R.Haseltine2) You may keep up to date on changes through Genie IBMRT,Category 30 (Product Support), Topic 7 (Budget). Thank you for considering this program. This is a Shareware pro- gram. The Shareware concept of marketing can save computer users much money if they support it by registering programs with the author. After examining the program, if you decide it is one which is useful to you, you are honor-bound to register it by sending $20 to: Richard S. Haseltine RR3 Box 830 Orrington, Maine, 04474 When you register the program, any updated copies will be mailed to you free for a period of one year from the date of your registration. The author will give serious consideration to any suggestions you send him for improving the program. This program has been tested by 10 users, and their suggestions have improved the program many-fold. Please let me hear from you, too. You may distribute copies of your unregistered version of the program freely. Be sure to clear the BUDGDATA file before doing so, as it may contain your personal and private data. If you are a commercial distri- butor, your charges to your customers must not exceed $5, and permission must be obtained from the author of the program at the above address. 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*." General Description of BUDGET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The total of the money received from age 18 to age 65 amounts to a small fortune. Yet the majority of the elderly find that most of that money is gone, just when they need it most. This program is designed to prevent that from happening to you. I believe the primary reason for this is a very simple one....a failure to give any serious consideration to the use of that small amount that is left each payday after one pays the bills that are due. A sub-reason may be that one does not have a clear picture of his financial status constantly before him. This program utilizes the old concept of envelope-budgeting. Each item of expenditure was assigned to an envelope into which the proper amount was placed each payday. When the bill came due, the money was in the envelope to pay it. The envelopes were filed in a shoe-box. The concept was fine, but actually doing it involved having the right amount of dollars and cents for each envelope. To say the least, the system was a bit unwieldy. Using a computer makes the 'envelope' system a snap. The personal checking account becomes the 'shoebox'. Program strings, or titles, be- come the 'envelopes'. The system is dynamic, unlike many static budget programs that merely list your budget and periodically compare where you are to where you should be financially. In this program you are con- stantly working within your budget on a week-to-week basis. You have a constant picture of all your finances, and an opportunity to make the wisest decision, concerning the small amount left over each week, right then. Unless seriously considered, those small amounts have a way of just up and disappearing during the coming weeks. The importance of this may not be clear to you at this moment, but after using BUDGET for six months, you'll see what I mean. What To Do First ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everyone: ~~~~~~~~~ Make a copy of this documentation on your printer: 1. Place program disk in Drive A 2. Set up page length for your printer and turn the printer on. 3. Type from DOS: COPY BUDGET.DOC PRN Hard Drive Users: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BUDGET consists of three programs and two data files: 1. BUDSETUP.EXE 2. INITBUDG.EXE 3. BUDGET.EXE 4. BUDGDATA 5. CLRVALUE Copy each of these onto your hard drive in the same directory path. Do not try to run the programs from Drive A or Drive B. You'll run into trouble when you try to save data. The computer detects your hard drive, and the Savedata routines are specialized for your type drive and your choice as to where to save data backup copies. Floppy Drive users: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a blank disk, make a back-up copy of this program disk: 1. Insert Dos disk in Drive A 2. Type: DISKCOPY A: B: <enter> Instructions come onto the screen telling you to insert Source disk in Drive A and Target disk in Drive B. If you do not have a drive B, then instructions will follow telling you when to change disks. Run BUDSETUP first: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Type BUDSETUP Hard drive users: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be asked to decide where you want your backup data put. Your choices are to have no backups (not very wise), to put it on your hard drive (not very wise), or to put it on the disk in drive A. If you choose the latter, have a back-up disk in Drive A. Your choice is then saved. Everyone: ~~~~~~~~~ A budget screen is displayed and you are given the choice to change the colors if you desire. If you answer 'N' the program ends. Otherwise each choice of background and foreground colors will be made for all the parts of the program. Instruction prompts appear regularly at the bottom of the screen. You can change all the items, or only some. When done, the color values are saved and the program ends. Your First Session: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Preparation: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each 'envelope' will be called a budget account from now on. Write out your budget items on paper in the following format: Code (5 characters) Interest Escrow Balance Payment Frequency 'Code' is an abbreviation of an account. A mortgage with People's Heri- tage Bank could be abbreviated as 'PHMTG'. Please use 'Gas' for the car operating account and 'Groc' for your grocery account. Make your last account 'Misc'. Time-Payment Accounts: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please list all your Time-Payment accounts first. These are ac- counts like a mortgage, car payment, or credit card account. They all charge you interest per month on an unpaid balance, and generally run for several years. It will help if you number the accounts. The pro- gram allows up to nineteen Time Payment accounts, and a total of 38 accounts in all, including the T/P accounts. 'Interest' means the ANNUAL rate (not monthly). You will usually be able to find this on your last statement. If only the monthly rate is given, multiply it by 12 to get your annual rate. 'Escrow' amounts are usually connected with mortgage accounts. They are the amounts the bank requires each month in order to pay insurance costs and taxes. 'Balance' refers to the total amount you owe....the outstanding balance owed on the account. This can also usually be found on your monthly statement. If not, you may call your bank. 'Payment' means how much you have to pay each time it comes due. 'Frequency' refers to how often you have to make your payment. If you pay monthly, enter 'M'; if quarterly, enter `Q'; if semiannually, enter 'S'; if annually, enter "A". Non-Time-Payment Accounts: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are accounts like Telephone, Electricty, Cable Services, Life Insurance, Car insurance, etc. No interest or escrow charges are made. Some non-T/P accounts require you to make regular payments. Some, like Medical, Clothes, Doctor, Repairs, Shareware registration (hint), and Recreation are preparation accounts for expenses that will probably arise during the year, but a definite time is not known. In other words, their due dates are indefinite. When you come to the Frequency of payment column, enter 'I' for these ac- counts. Entering Your Budget Into Computer: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Load the INITBUDG program (type INITBUDG) You will be prompted to enter the date. This may seem redundant because you may have entered the date when you powered up. But some users have a perennial clock system which they prefer not to inter- fere with. Therefore, the BUDGET programs use an date system inde- pendent of the perennial clock system. You are then prompted to enter the number of Time-Payment ac- counts. The Menu is then displayed. Select the first Menu option, 'Create Budget.'The budget headings are then displayed, #1 is dis- played, and the cursor awaits your input of the Code of the first account. While on the first line of budget entries, an instruc- tional panel will appear, repeating briefly the same instructions you are reading here. Follow the prompts carefully, and you should have no troubles. On other account lines you may press 'H' and the pertinent instructional panel will appear. Arrears: ~~~~~~~~ After you have entered the Frequency of payment symbol, the program will automatically calculate the arrears of that account. You are asked which week of the month the account is due. Let us say you are working in the first week of the month. Your current account is due the third week of the month. Assume the bill to be $48. The weekly budget requirement is 48/4 or $12. Assume you're at the first first week of a month...the bill is due the third week...so you have only three weeks to budget for that bill. Ideally, you should already have budgeted $12. If you haven't then this account starts out being $12 in arrears. This is automatically calculated by the program. You are then asked how many payments you are behind. If none, answer '0'. If you are one payment behind, answer '1'. In the latter case, using the example above, you are one full payment behind, or $48, plus being behind one weeks in your budgeting, $12 or a total arrears of $60. Once a quarter, you will have five paydays. The fifth payday in a month is free of budget obligations when your budget is up to date. In short, you can spend the money any way you want without affecting your budget. Starting a budget is discouraging. Ideally, one should have enough money to immediately bring the budget up to date. But that is seldom the case. Most of the accounts will be in arrears. How to approach this matter will be explained in the Trial Reserve section. Errors: ~~~~~~~ If you make an error, you may go back and correct it by pressing 'E'. Use the arrows on the number pad to move the cursor to your error. Do not use your cluster of arrow keys, if you have them. Consideration had to be given for those who do not have the cluster of arrow keys. As most entries are numerical, the use of the number pad is en- couraged. To prevent the user from having to toggle his Num Lock key between the arrows and the numbers, the program forces the Num Lock to be ON even though the Num Lock key light is off. The program interprets the entry of a '4', for example, as a number when figures are re- quired, and as the left arrow when arrows are required. Interruptions: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may have just started to use INITBUDG, when you find you must abandon the program. Press 'Z'. You will be asked if you wish to save your data. In this case you would respond with a 'N'because you have entered no data. You are then returned to the menu from which you may select the End option. If the interruption came halfway down the page and you pressed 'Z', you would respond to the data question with 'Y'. Your data will be saved, and you are returned to the Menu. In such a case, it is important when you start again to go to the same Menu option you were using when you quit. The program has received a flag that an interruption has occurred, and is designed to return to where you left off. When you have completed your budget entries, press 'D' (Done) and you are asked if you wish to change anything. Respond with 'Y' and you enter the error routine previously discussed. Respond with 'N' and your data is saved and you are given the option of making a print-out of the page on your printer. Income/Savings Report: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the menu, select the Income/Savings report option. Income Report: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Income Report provides a listing of up to six income sources. Code for the source is limited to five characters. After entering the amount of the income source, you are asked how often you receive the income from this source. If weekly, enter 'W'; if monthly, enter 'M'; if quarterly, enter 'Q'; if annually, enter 'A'. The program will convert the amount to a weekly figure. When finished, a copy of your budget will be displayed with all figures converted to weekly amounts. Your income is compared to your budget total. If the budget total is greater than the income total, you will be asked if you wish to revise either the budget or the income, or to continue. Savings Report: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please set this up even if you have no savings. The Savings account may be set up with up to five categories. If you have car insurance payments due semiannually, then it probably would be a good idea to transfer the budget amounts to your savings account and earn a little interest. So even though you may have no savings now, you may wish to set up certain categories for future use. When finished with savings, you are asked to enter the current balance of your checking account. Do not include any cash on hand....enter just the balance in your checking account. After you have entered your checking account balance, the program increments the value of a flag that becomes part of you BUDGDATA file. Unless this value is incremented, you will not be able to run BUDGET. Therefore, it is important that you go through every step outlined. Do not try to short-cut. When done, your data is saved, print-out option is given, and you are returned to the Menu. At this point you may stop your work and end your session. Other options in INITBUDG Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you have set up your budget, there will be only two reasons to use INITBUDG again. 1. You wish to delete or add an entire budget account The option 'ADD/Delete,etc' enables you to add or delete a budget account. The prompts will direct you in doing this. 2. You wish to start over and create a new budget In this case you would first use the 'Zero all values' option which would delete your present budget and data. Then you would use the 'Create Budget' option like before. The Next Step In Your First Session: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are still in INITBUDG, select the 'Load BUDGET' menu option. If you ended your session after initiating you budget, and are now ready to continue, you are still considered to be in your first session. Type from Dos 'BUDGET' Budget is loaded: Select the 'Deposit/TrialRs' option and your empty budget is displayed for you. Note that in the lower right corner there are three items listed: Total Checkbook Balance, Total Reserve, and Free Balance. The Checkbook balance will be the amount you reported in INITBUDG. The Reserve balance will be '0'. The Free Balance will equal the Total minus the reserve. Your task now is to distribute the Free Balance amount into your budget Reserve columns. But first, the program gives you an opportunity to make any deposits you may want to make into your checking account. Follow the prompts carefully. If you have no deposit to make, enter '0' at each prompt. When done the program takes you to the Trial Reserve routine and highlights the columns in which you will be working. Trial Reserve Activity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your prompt at the bottom of the page now reads "Automatic Budget Entry? (Y/N)". If you answer 'Y', the amount in the Budget column will be entered automatically into the Trial/Res column. If you answer 'N', then the prompt will ask for the amount. You can enter any amount, including '0'. Very few people will be able to completely distribute amounts to all their budget accounts during this first session. If you have a certain bill to pay, you will have to enter the amount of that bill in its account's Trial/Res column. Please notice what happens in the lower right corner. When your entry is placed in the Trial/Res column, it is deducted from Free Balance and en- tered into the Reserve acct. Something has also happened behind the scenes. The values you see now are not the real values. Temporary Values have replaced the Real Values. So if you really snarl things up and have to bail out, your real values have not been altered. When you are done experimenting with the best way to distribute your free balance into the Trial/Res column, press 'D'. The amounts in the Trial/Res column are transferred to the Reserve Column, and now the lower right corner values are your real values again. You are also put into the Spent routine. The Arrears Problem: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unless you have had enough money to bring your budget up to date, most of your accounts will be in arrears. Be patient. Each week you will have to give priority to the accounts that are currently due. When you have distributed the proper amounts into these accounts, you will have, hopefully, some free balance left. Pick one account that is due four weeks from now, and put the excess into that account to bring it up to date. If you have any free balance left, pick another account that is due four or three weeks from now. Put the excess into that account. But before you do that, be sure to put a realistic amount into your MISC account. Each payday continue in the same way. Four weeks from the start, when that account you have been building on comes due, you may have the total needed to pay it. At any rate, paying that bill will require less out of your current pay than the last time you paid it. The more accounts you can get up to date, the more the arrears decrease. Also you will experience a feeling that you are in control which is great for the morale. The process is slow and it may take from six months to a year before every account is up-to-date. But there is no other way to solve your financial problems. As the man said, "It's a cinch by the inch, but hard by the yard!". Some aids to you: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Mnn': 'M' means 'move cursor'. 'nn' is the account number to which you want to move. Thus to move to Acct #18, you enter 'M18'. The cursor will immediately snap to Acct 18. 'Z': Entering 'Z' takes you back to the Menu, after giving you a choice whether or not to save your data. (See full explanation previously given) 'A': Entering 'A' will give you the arrears of any of the accounts you select. 'X': Entering 'X' will set up a routine whereby you may transfer amounts from one account to another. Of course there must be money in the Reserve column in order to make a transfer. The prompts will guide you through this routine. "H": Entering 'H' will bring you an instructional panel pertinent to wherever you are. Remember that each of these aids can only be entered when the prompt is asking for an amount. With the exception of 'Z', they will not work when the prompt reads "Automatic budget?" The Spend Routine: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Entering "D" when finished distributing money to your accounts, takes you to the Spend routine. Now it is bill-paying time. Move the cursor to the account you wish to pay, enter the amount and the following takes place: 1. The amount is deducted from the Reserve Column 2. The amount is entered into the Spent column 3. The amount is deducted from the Checking account balance 4. The amount is deducted from the total Reserve balance As each entry is made, you may make out your check. At the least, note the transaction on your check-book stub. You may write your checks later. When done, press 'D' and your data is saved and you may then print out the page on your printer. After The First Session: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Assuming you have received your pay and have made a deposit, the normal routine at each session is as follows: 1. Load BUDGET 2. Select the first Menu option. You have probably made out some checks during the week, and now is the time to enter those transactions into the computer budget. When done, press 'D'. The print-out will cover half a page. 3. Select the Deposit/Trialrsv Menu option. Enter the income received, and the amount deposited. The difference is 'pocket money' and this program does not keep track of it. 4. You then move to the Trial/rsv routine. At this time, the program debits the arrears accounts by the amounts in each Budget column. Distribute the Free Balance amount throughout your budget. Be sure to distribute ALL the free balance into your budget. Press 'D' when done. 5. In the Spend routine, pay your bills. When done, press 'D' and print-out the page. It will go onto the lower half of the printer page, under the first print-out. Then the printer will advance to the top of the next sheet. 6. Select the third option and the status of all the accounts will be displayed including the arrears for each account, the balances of the T/P accounts, the total spent thus far for each of the non-T/P items, your savings account amounts, and the total income received thus far in each category. You may change any of the arrears figures, and each of the T/P account balances to keep them current. Print-out page. 7. Another page is displayed showing your total indebtedness. It is interesting to maintain a chart of this figure so you can note your progress. Also displayed are the names of the accounts from which you spent money, and the amounts. On the right side is a summary of the minimum balance you should have in your checking account to preserve the integrity of your budget. 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 weekly 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.