Ask HN: Easiest way to record finances?

[eecks]

Someone has asked me to set up something for them on their PC so that they can record finances and spending. They're experience with computers is very limited so it doesn't need to be very complicated. The person can type and browse the web. No experience in Excel and does not have MS Office on the machine.

Does anyone know of any desktop apps or websites that are easy to use?

Main requirements: Easy to use Simple features Free/Low cost

I know someone will probably say Notepad but while that would work, it's not very nice to look at and since it has no guidelines, it could get very messy.

[PermaFrost]

For personal finance, YNAB (short for You Need A Budget) is a decent desktop and mobile application that can sync over Dropbox. It's pretty easy to use but not free - you have to purchase a license for $60. You can do a free evaluation month and it runs on Windows as well as Mac OS (plus iOS and Android for the mobile app that is free to download but only useable in conjunction with the desktop application).

You can find out more about it on http://www.youneedabudget.com/ - I have used it for more than a year and have had pretty good experiences with it for personal finances (specifically for making budgets and tracking where the money went).

[i0nutzb → PermaFrost]

+1 for YNAB, but with a couple of notes:

- if you're using Windows Phone, then you're kind of out of luck, since there is no support for this platform;

- keep an eye on steam sales; you can find a pretty serious discount (I bought it for $20-30 or so);