database

[Tim reid]

I'm thinking of programing/writing/whatever a database to keep track
of some information for work.  I think that I would like to keep track
of 7-12 fields of information, and be able to set up reminders that
are tagged to date information.  For instance, "you did such and such
30 days ago...you can now file the claim, here is the information that
you recorded earlier."

How would i go about doing this, free as in beer, in an open database
format?  Let me also mention that I'm a total newb  ;)

TIA,

Tim