In the past, I've used Ecel spreadsheets to manage my finances. But when I changed laptops Microsoft wanted me to pay for it again. I wasn't having that, so for over a decade I've been using "Open Office," a free programme, which is pretty much the same as Excel. I compile a budget each year and have a rolling spreadsheet that itemises all my anticipated income and expenditure, monthly. This is linked to a control sheet. All things being equal, on 1st January I can project what my income will be and what I will have spent during the year and what will be in my bank account on 31st December. The budget allows for "contingences." i.e increases, in things like utility charges, or say a new washing machine, or similar, or where we see something we like and I say, "sod it, let's 'ave it." I'm never in the red. The surplus at the end of the year if it's significant, usually disappears after my wife has said.."What I thought was...." It isn't entirely necessary, but I worked with budgets in my job, so I like doing it. There's also the advantage, that while at work budgets were "set in stone." If I choose I could alter the budget half way through the year. If we suddenly decide we need something. I mirror my credit card spending with a separate spreadsheet linked to the control sheet. I religiously enter all my card spending, which is usually over forty items a month on the sheet. I just check online at the end of the month, just to make sure both balance and set the payment to clear the balance on the day the payment is due. That bit has never been a problem, apart from a couple of hiccups, once when I got charged for something that wasn't mine, (not a lot of money) and a few months ago an interest charge, despite the fact I've cleared the balance every month for decades. They couldn't give me a reason for that. But I got refunds for both. Anyway, yesterday when the bill came up on-line, I noticed it was for £9.99 more than what my spreadsheet said. It took me half an hour re-checking everything, before I realised what was the problem. I'd bought three separate items for £9.99 but when I'd entered one of them on my spread sheet, I'd put £9,99. Typing a comma rather than a full stop meant that the programme failed to include that item in the total.
Never ever use any product of Microsoft, (if you value your privacy)... Switch over to Linux Mint or Obuntu. They are 100% royalty free and completely open source. So no need to pay anything to anyone. Over here everybody is either using Linux, or a pirated version of Windows, (cracked by hackers so that it excepts whatever key you put in it for activation) - Our law is such that it is "technically" illegal to sell pirated software, (but nobody really cares nor do the authorities bother to enforce it). And buying it for your own personal use, or downloading it straight from the many different BitTorrent sites - Isn't a crime. I have actually never seen anyone pay for anything to Microsoft - Mainly because we as a society are allergic to credit cards, (anything which can potentially lead to any type of debt later, is forbidden in the dominant religion over here)... Banks and other institutions keep trying to make credit cards popular. But people unanimously reject it. Specially shopkeepers, as processing a credit card holds up the line at the supermarket checkout, (and people in the back then start to get angry)... It's actually a most funny sight, when foreigners visiting my country go to a supermarket and take out their credit card at the checkout - Often the entire staff starts laughing. Over here we either only pay with cash, or by our mobile phone, (like in China). Both methods are ultra quick and easy to process. Microsoft, Amazon, and other big names never bothered to learn this about our society. While the Chinese understood this instantly! So that's why we and them have no trouble when it comes to trading and commerce.
As they say, "each to their own." I don't own a smartphone. I do have a versitile "pay as you go" mobile phone, for calls texts and rarely, photos. Usually it lives in the front ashtray of my car. If I'm shopping, or on the golf course, I take it with me in case my wife who has MS has an emergency and needs to contact me. I can't think of anything in my life that needs immediate access to a smart phone. For me they seem to be for mostly, trivial uses and I haven't the time. I'm in control of my life, not a phone, I've a laptop which I turn on when I want to. e-mails etc., can wait 'til then. Here in the UK credit cards are used by most by either the self-service checkouts or the conventional checkout lines, by contactless or by inserting the card in a machine. Some people still pay by cash, but they are the minority. In a checkout line, nobody laughs at whichever way a customer pays for their purchases, a few my grumble if they don't think enough checkouts are open, but that's all. Maybe we are a more orderly society?
Over here paying by credit card requires a signature, (it's the law) - Signature of the person in who's name the credit card or debt card is issued... After that the signature is scanned, then transmitted to the concerned bank. And it takes another minute for the bank to verify it. But sometimes the person makes a slight mistake, and the automatic system for signature verification rejects it - Thus starting the same process all over again. This has caused a lot of anger at the supermarkets, and fistfights at the petrol pumps too, (gas stations) - So people and shop keepers both said, that credit cards are only for those who travel internationally. Otherwise just not worth the trouble. People simply pay in cash, (the majority). But you can also pay by QR code. It's a smartphone application, in which to can transfer some amount from your bank account, (online). Then you pay directly and within seconds, (your fingerprint too is verified within a blink of an eye. So in comparison, credit cards are such a burden...