I'm currently using Google Docs Spreadsheets to keep track of my personal financial data. It is much more manual, but once the view over the data is set, all one needs to do is enter new credits and debits.

Here's how I have it set up: I have one sheet with 6 columns: Account, Transaction Date, Post Date, Credit, Debit, Description . When I have a new charge, I add a new row and fill it out accordingly. Every week, or at the end of the month when my statement comes in, I fill in the Post Date and check the charge. I then check if the statement is balanced with my data.

In another sheet for viewing the data, I use functions DSUM and DAVERAGE, to consolidate information, and I store Criteria Constraints within the same sheet, in a separate section.

All textual data is stored in a third sheet which is referenced in the two other sheets using the INDEX function. The INDEX functions reference custom Ranges so that the data sheets don't have to change.

Doing it this way is a bit of work up front, but once everything is hammered out, I believe it's a smooth system. It may not be the most secure, but it allows me to enter data from any computer, my phone or my tablet, so I really have no excuse to not keep track of my charges or not know exactly how much money I have.

I hope this helps you!

e: sp

thanks for the info. i am actually using this for my business so as much as I love the simplicity I just need a bit more versatility for sending invoices, viewing quick overviews, etc. thanks though!

I can't recommend Wave Accounting[1] enough. AFAIK, they're the only app that allows for multiple businesses under a single account, which was the major selling point for me. The invoicing feature is very nice too…

[1]: http://www.waveaccounting.com/

Its kinda scary, but they are supposedly financed by "advertising" which means they are selling your financial data or derivatives of your financial data to potential advertisers.... Not that much different from Mint i suppose, but something to think about.

http://waveaccounting.com/features/un-pricing/

that seems pretty good, I am going to look into it a bit more. thanks for the suggestion.

QuickBooks online is cheap and relatively painless, and you can migrate all of your data over.

The least expensive version is $13 * 12 = $156, and lacks many features including the ability to import data from the desktop version. QuickBooks Mac is $128 from Amazon, so even assuming you need to buy a new copy every year, which is not at all true in my (5+ year) experience with the product, it's still a better deal. If you're willing to pay a (possibly large) price premium to access your accounting system via the Web, fine, but it's not going to save you money on license costs. Perhaps payroll is cheaper with the Web service? I don't know; I've never needed it.

I use Xero for my startup, which does everything I need. It has integration to my bank and credit card companies, so I don't have to retype a lot of transactions.

http://www.xero.com/

Look into wave accounting. It is pretty decent and FREE to use.