I would like to start a series of articles about my favorite piece of software, Multiplan. I have found many, many uses for this program & haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what it is capable of doing. I'm still a novice user but I would like to share with you some of the uses that I have found for this great program.
My most frequently used file is a combination budget sheet and checkbook balancer. About once a week, I enter all the checks I have written under various budget categories that I have made my deposit entries to. At a glance I can tell if my checkbook balances and just how much money is in the account for various items like insurance, utilities etc.
I also have a file for income tax purposes. I keep a monthly file of all income, (wages, dividends, interest, etc), taxes paid, and all items that qualify for tax deductions. (The number of rows has significantly decreased this year). Along with these files, I keep a yearly file that uses the xcopy routine to enter a summary of each month's file. So at any time, I can tell exactly how such income I've had, how much I've paid in taxes (ouch) and how much I as able to claim on deductions. No surprises in Jan.
Another file is medical insurance records. I have medical coverage at work and am also covered by my husband's insurance. This is great but at times can be confusing as to who has paid what. MP keeps these records for me better than the insurance companies at times.
My job is a part time position and I accrue vac. and sick leave according to the number of hours that I actually work. I no longer need to rely on personnel to tell me how much leave I as entitled to...MP calculates it for me on a weekly basis. A few months ago, the figures I got from personnel did not agree with mine. Can you guess who was right? MP of course.
Another interesting file is the utilities. This keeps track of the cost and usage
of our utility bills each year. What is so interesting is that even though the usage goes down, the cost goes up.
While I spend my free time at the computer, my husband spends his on the golf course with a few of his buddies. MP keeps a record of their scores, figures their averages, handicaps and gives them a nice printout of the bad news.
In addition to the mathematical capabilities of MP, there are great sorting abilities. I use this in the golf file in order to find a low average to figure the handicap. However, it's great for another file I have...my address list. This gives me a clear concise printout of name, address, city, state, zip, phone and category (such as friend, relative, neighbor). I can sort by any field and print out only what I choose.
The file that brings a laugh to my friends is my grocery list. I type it in MP and sort it by aisle. (our supermarket recently remodeled and gave out maps which I keep by the computer) They may laugh, but I zip through that store lickety split.
And last but not least, I tried something new today. I used MP as a word processor to write this article. I'm not exactly thrilled with this particular use but I read about it in another newsletter and just had to try it. It was really fascinating how it all came together. I will reprint the article in a future newsletter.
That's all for now folks. Perhaps next time, I'll give some specific examples and also some hints I've picked up in various articles. I would really be interested in hearing of some of the uses to which you put Multiplan. Submit an article if you like. We can learn from each other.
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Just wanted to say 'I'm glad I found you!' Pulled out my TI and have started to play with it again. I forgot how much fun it was. Wish there were more people out there still using it!
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