Personal finance software Build your own budgeting software: Open Office

Open Office is a free alternative to the Microsoft Office suite

Open Office

Open Office isn’t a personal finance software program, but rather a suite of programs designed, among other things, for word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. If you don’t want to splash out cash on the Microsoft Office suite, this is an excellent alternative.

If you’re already confident in using spreadsheet programs such as Excel, or if your home finances are relatively simple, you could build your own budget-management spreadsheet using Open Office. Which? has produced a guide to creating your own budget in Excel – this can easily be adapted to work with Open Office.

Open Office is available free to download. The spreadsheet program, Calc, can handle all of the day-to-day functions of its Microsoft equivalent. Open Office might not have all the extra features that advanced users might look for from Excel, Word and PowerPoint, but if you’re looking for a powerful everyday spreadsheet program for managing your household budget, Open Office is definitely worth downloading.

Free Which? guides to save you money

There are plenty of other ways you can boost your finances. Read our free guides to cutting your household bills, getting discounts in shops and saving money on food, heating, motoring and getting fit.

And use the free Which? savings rate booster to find out how much interest you’re earning on your savings account and to switch to a more competitive deal.