THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409150058
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
WHEN THE Egyptians invented paper, they had no idea how it would effect your countertops and refrigerator door:
The grocery list, the recipe box, the day care receipts, the water bill, the kids' softball/wrestling/cheerleading/thespian schedules, the PTA meeting, the veterinarian bill.
You could gather up some baskets and file folders, or you could turn to a more modern invention to handle that prehistoric paper: the computer. Programs are available that can balance your checkbook and convert your recipes to low-fat versions, remind you when bills are due and count your calories, inventory your china and keep the family calendar - without paper clutter.
``Almost everything can be computerized,'' said Maryann C. Deal, a retail sales representative at Egghead Software in Virginia Beach. ``It's really phenomenal what's out there.''
Following is a just a glimpse at the many software packages available:
Personal planners help organize your life. You can put every appointment on a calendar, keep addresses and phone numbers handy, make a to-do list. Many even feature pictures, comic strips or inspirational quotes on pages that look exactly like your paper calendar. The Cathy Daily Planner, featuring the comic strip Cathy, was popular last Christmas, Deal noted. The Far Side Daily Planner brags that your great-great-great-grandchildren will be able to use it (and enjoy the cartoons) because it has a perpetual calendar. At about $41, it's a little more expensive than some other software.
Seize the Day Illustrated offers a variety of calendar pictures with sound effects, 365 peeks at This Day in History and inspiring quotes. And, by the way, it also keeps schedules, phone numbers, lists, a personal diary, etc. It sells for about $25.
Sidekick, at $31, has gender-specific boxes. One features a smiling woman, the other a smiling man, exclaiming ``Simplify your life.'' This program was one of the first on the market, Deal said, and it has endured in popularity.
OnTime is a higher-end product that illustrates daily calendars in grid form to check for availability and conflicts, and lets you click on a scheduled time to see details of the engagement. The Windows version will run close to $130.
Kitchen programs will do everything from printing out your shopping list to determining the nutritional value of your meals.
``Betty Crocker has a whole series out there on cooking,'' Deal said. ``They have a low-calorie cookbook. They have a fat-free cookbook. They have one that will allow you to put your own recipes in and determine the nutritional contents.''
The Better Homes and Gardens Healthy CD Cookbook, at $42, shows you photos of the finished dishes, narrates cooking techniques, searches recipes by ingredient, counts calories and gives a nutritional guide. It will print out your shopping list for you as well.
The Micro Kitchen Companion combines recipes from many well-known cookbooks and lets you add your own. It will calculate measurements if you want to make more or less than the recipe calls for, search recipes for ingredients that you want to avoid and allow you to keep a personalized database on your guests' preferences and dietary needs. It runs about $31.
From the publishers of Shape, Muscle and Fitness and other magazines comes Health and Diet Pro, a program that tracks all sorts of things for you: cholesterol, calories, fats, fibers, food-exchange values. It will also analyze your recipes for nutritional content and help you track your body measurements and blood pressure. It sells for about $16.
Financial help comes in various forms. Quicken is the most popular, offering a screen that not only looks like a checkbook but lets you print checks and keep your balance accurate. You can track credit-card spending and assets, create budget spreadsheets, plan for retirement and college, follow your investments and compute loans. It will keep a home inventory and beep to remind you when payments are due on bills. On CD, it sells for about $73.
A newer program, Deal said, is the Wall Street Journal Personal Finance Library, which helps you make decisions by revealing the consequences of various actions. Choose which credit card is most effective for you, decide whether buying or renting a house makes the most sense, figure out how to buy your dream home. It runs about $42.
And for those looking at the long run, there is Rich and Retired.
``So many people don't think about how we all get older and we need to start thinking in our 20s and 30s about planning for retirement,'' Deal said. ``(Rich and Retired) lets you play `what if' - what if I put this in an IRA and this in a T-bill, what would happen over five years?'' The program is geared toward helping you plan for emergencies as well as retirement, by showing you the consequences of placing your money in various savings and investment plans.
And what's $32 for software if it makes you rich a few years from now? ILLUSTRATION: JANET SHAUGHNESSY/Staff
by CNB