Macgasm

I went looking for an inexpensive personal expenditure program in order to create a budget and attempt to stick to it.  So across my adventure to search for the application I wanted I came across Cha-Ching.  I had heard of it before, but didn’t really know too much about it.  So I went looking for more info.  After doing some googling I came across the fact that it was in the Macheist II bundle.Overall my thoughts on Cha-Ching are very positive, but there are some minor quirks that could easily be fixed.  The Cha-Ching interface is very much like most Mac Applications.  The left sidebar holds all of the accounts that you have specified, the ‘Smart Folders’ for creating a quick view of how much a particular group of transactions has accumulated to.  You have the option, when specifying a new account’ to choose the type: Saving, Checking, Credit Card, or Online.  The Account option has only a few fields to enter information into.  They are as follows; Account Name, Bank Name, Bank URL, Starting Balance, and the Account Type. The URL is useful for allowing quick access to the website to verify transactions or to download recent transactions.  When you specify an account, and you choose which type of Account it is, and save the information.  It will appear in the left-hand sidebar.  Each differing type of account has a different icon, which helps distinguish differing accounts.You have the option for ‘Smart Folders’.  With Smart folders you can keep track of how much is spent in each category.  You have the ability to filter based on Title, Amount, Date, To, From, Tag, Note, Account, and Type. I typically use it based on Tag, I find it to be the easiest. You can also create ‘Smart Folders’ with more than one criteria.One definitely positive thing is the ability to sync your information to an iPod.  This is kinda handy for an easy backup.  You have the ability to set Cha-Ching update every time that you’re dock your iPod.Despite all that it does well Cha-Ching does have a few issues.  The first, and most annoying to me, is that while the software will display the upcoming month (30 days) worth of transactions, it only shows the first instance of an upcoming transaction.  For instance, I get paid bi-weekly.  Instead of showing both of the upcoming paychecks, I only get the first.  This can infinitely frustrating, since the ‘overall account’ amount is definitely incorrect.The second thing that could be improved is when adding a Credit Card, having the default be a negative amount, versus a positive cash flow.  Not that it is too difficult to change the type of cash flow, it’s just a minor thing that does not make any sense.One thing that is sort of disheartening is the lack of support, I sent an email, it’s been well over a week now, and I still have not received a response.  I’m not sure if this is because of the increased flux of new customers and their needs.Overall, Cha-Ching is a really good personal finance application.  It hasn’t crashed on me, and has worked rather well for me.  You can get it for $40 over at http://www.midnightapps.com.  If you’re looking for an inexpensive, personal finance application, give this one a try.  There is a demo available.

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