Free budgeting software

Free budgeting software packages offer a simple and easy way to track your personal finances. Most of the tools are very simple packages, but used effectively could be all you need to get your finances on track without shelling out any cash.

Ace Money Lite

Ace Money Lite is a good piece of free budgeting software. The freeware is easily downloadable and comes recommended by Which.co.uk. It is an American product, but has numerous currencies and languages available. The best thing about this free budgeting software is that it offers most of what the paid-for home budgeting software packages offer and looks fairly similar too.

Some of the key features include the ability to set up multiple accounts, create and manage budgets, investment tracking, track your spending, upload bank statements and feel safe with regular, scheduled back-ups. It seems to do everything that YouNeedABudget.com and BankTree Personal Finance (Home Budgeting Software), except the 'Lite' version of Ace Money only supports two accounts. With paid-for software, you can have multiple accounts.

AceMoney Lite comes highly recommend for personal budgeting.

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009

Microsoft also offers free software in the form of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009. It's aimed at the small business user, but there are plenty of tools within it that are useful for a household budget.

The great thing about Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 is that it's easy to use as it follows the same set up as other Microsoft Office products. If you've used those before, then you'll have no problem using this. It also integrates with other Microsoft Office products easily, so you can upload Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets easily.

If you're running a small business or are self employed, then this would be perfect for you. If you're a new to budgeting, then I would give this a miss, unless you want a steep learning curve.

This software is no longer being made, but you may still be able to find it in shops.

Open Office software

Open Office isn't exactly budgeting software, it is in fact a suite of packages similar to Microsoft Office. As part of the suite you can write documents, create spreadsheets and presentations. For budgeting, you would use the spreadsheet facility.

Open Office is free to download and is very similar to Microsoft Office, but just looks like a much older version! If you're already familiar with Microsoft Office, especially Excel, then creating your budget will be a breeze. You'll also find the other Office style tools useful too. You can find out more about OpenOffice.org here.

There are plenty of free budgeting software options out there and they're just as good as some of the paid-for versions. If you're new to budgeting, it's definitely worth giving them a go as you could save yourself a bit of cash. When you're ready for more functionality or have started investing too, then think about the full versions of home budgeting software packages.