First, a pisser. Quicken Basic for the Mac costs more than twice as much as Quicken Basic for the PC. ($30 vs. $70) Okay, Bill Gates, we hear ya loud and clear.

We have two Macs and one PC that we rarely use. We got Quicken Basic for the PC in part to save money but also because we were afraid of what it would tell us and figured we wouldn't want to check it all that often. Quicken - among other things - downloads your credit card statement and divides up your purchases, showing you exactly where you spend your money. Ouch!

We learned that we spend a thousand a month just feeding our pieholes! (That's just two people!) There's good news too. We hardly spend anything on gas these days, a testament to the importance of keeping tires inflated, eliminating unnecessary errands and convincing friends to come see you instead of the other way around. (Also, with a new baby, I don't spend a lot of time on the roads.)

This is a fantastic tool, despite the PC bias, for the cost. A deluxe version monitors investments. We didn't think we needed that service at this time, though we might down the road. I haven't fully explored Quicken Basic and all its features. I'm too busy trying to cut our grocery bill.