How to Create a Home Budget With Quicken
Quicken is a money management software tool for individuals or small businesses looking to manage financial data, create reports, provide bill alerts, track tax liability and anticipate expenses. Quicken Starter Edition 2010 in particular, is Quicken's most basic option for individuals looking to schedule bills, import credit card and bank data, set up bill alerts and create a budget. Once you have set up your banking information and categorized your bills, Quicken can create a budget and help you better track your money and anticipate upcoming expenses.
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Instructions
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1
Update Quicken and categorize any new transactions. While Quicken will automatically designate a category to most transactions, the categories can be wrong. You may need to adjust some of the entries to more accurately reflect spending. Under "Category" within an account, you can click on the category label for the transaction and change it, using the dropdown menu or by creating your own category.
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2
Click the "View" tab when done categorizing your entries and ensure that "Show Tool Bar" is selected. The toolbar should contain a "Budget" icon, which you must click to create your budget. If it does not, you will need to add it. If it does, skip to Step 4.
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3
Click "Edit," then "Customize Tool Bar." Add the "Budget" to the "Current toolbar order" by highlighting and clicking "Add." Then click "OK." The "Budget" icon will appear in the toolbar.
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4
Click on the "Budget" icon to open it.
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5
Select "Automatic," then "Create Budget. Alternatively, you can opt to create a manual budget; however, Quicken advises that creating an automatic budget is faster.
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6
Enter a date range from which Quicken should scan your financial data to create an accurate budget. Choose your budget method and option, and then click "OK." A budget will appear with tabs for "Income," "Expenses," "Savings" and "Summary."
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Tips & Warnings
On the summary sheet, you can opt to run a "Budget Report" to see all your financial data on one page.
If you find that data is missing from your budget it may be that you have improperly categorized certain transactions.
Change the view under "Option."
Add or remove items by clicking "Choose categories."
Edit an amount by clicking on it and entering a new amount in the right-hand column.
