Boldly Go Collection/version40.iso/TS/17A/BUDGETMO.ZIP/BUDGET.DOC

Text File | 1992-04-10 | 27KB | 517 lines

                         The Monthly Budget Program
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                    Copyright 1991, Richard S. Haseltine
                             Riverside software
                                RR3, Box 830
                           Orrington, Maine, 04474

        This program has come to your through the facilities of the Eagles's
    Haven BBS in Bucksport, Maine, 207-469-6732. For a prompt reply you may
    leave a message to the author at any time, 24 hours a day, on Eagle's
    Haven's message board.

    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. And now, on to the program.....

Your BUDGET disk contains eight 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. CALC: This is a TSR calculator which you can pop onto the screen whenever
         you wish. It disappears just as readily. You have to install it.
6. CRLVALUE: This data file saves the color values used in the programs.
7. DEMODATA: This is a sample budget display to aid you in setting up your
             own color schemes.
8. 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)

THE CALC.COMM PROGRAM:

     The program, CALC, is a TSR (terminate and stay resident) program.
     By pressing ALT S you can bring a calculator on screen. Pressing ESC
     erases it from the screen. When it comes on screen, it is in a
     non-finacial mode. Press F2 and it is in the financial mode. Install it
     so that whenever you boot up your system, Calc.com will be loaded.  I
     copy it on my DOS disk, and enter 'calc.com in my Autoexec file. If you
     do this, be aware that the Alt S command may interfere with another
     program that uses the Alt S command. In such cases you will have to
     amend your Autoexec file.

HARD DISK USERS:

    You have three programs to install, and three data files. There is also
    the manual, Budget.Doc. The three programs and the three 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:\UTILITIES\BUDGET\DEMODATA
                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:

    If you are using a hard disk, you must first run the 'BUDSETUP'
    program.

            Type 'BUDSETUP'

    The only reason for a floppy disk user to run 'BUDSETUP' is to experiment
    with the color scheme.

NUM LOCK AND CAPS LOCK:

    The programs each set the keypad to figures rather than to arrows.
    The caps are set for Capital letters. The lights will not be on, and if
    you turn them on, you will get the arrows on the keypad, and lower case
    letters. It is best not to turn them 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. The Caps are on because much of your
    input will be read by strings, and as you know, if the program is looking
    for a Capital letter and reads a lower case letter, it will not respond.
    There will be no need for you to change these two controls. However, if
    you go to another non-budget program, you should reboot first, else the
    setting of the CAPS LOCK and NUM LOCK will still be in place.

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, then add two or three to the figure. This will result
     in two or three blank accounts for future use for new accounts.

     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, including
     the TP accounts (including the blank TP accounts). Add several blanks to
     the total for future use. 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 will need
     to adjust your budget. Suggestions will be displayed on the screen and
     you will then be returned to the MENU. There remains the Savings
     Account to set up, and the reporting of your current checking account
     balance, but that will not be done until the Income amount is either
     equal to , or greater than, the Budget amount.

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.