How do you organise your finances?

Chrismojam

Boomdocker wrote:

I think we could be related!lol :rotfl:

Lol!! My sister (bless her...love her to bits....) is the complete opposite of me...........keeps the house spick and span, and then says it needs a good clean!! AND she's calmed down over the years...she doesn't do as much now!

She must feel a bit ill when she comes to my house! The levels of dust, and god knows what else does her breathing no good!:o That's what it is....she cleans too much so her body can't handle the slightest thing!!

Whereas I could possibly have had some serious food poisoning over the years, but my constitution it seems is rather solid...........possibly down to the penecilin factory in my kitchen:o

black-saturn

briona wrote:

Ooh I do that too! In the third week of each month [prior to payday] I write out that particular month's outgoings [the incoming bit never changes! Sigh!] on a cool sheet of A4 paper and make sure I know what date each bill/direct debit goes out of my account. The final figure on the sheet is the amount that I can save. I save EVERYTHING* so there is no money left over to waste on shiny glittery pretty things that I do not need!!!


[*In theory!]

I save everything too. I always make sure theres enough money to cover any unexpected bills in my current account (about £300) and whenever that balance goes over that amount it goes in my savings account.

PeachPickle

all_hours wrote:

Is there a medical term for someone who sits staring at spreadsheets for hours? Maybe we could a start a new club SSA, Spreadsheet Starers Anonymous.

Yeah, I'd join that... I've got three worksheets with savings, debt payments and incomings/outgoings

I'm thinking I need to make some graphs though, I'm very jealous of whoever it was that has those... :rotfl:

**purpleprincess**

I have one spreadsheet for it all, it has a summary on the first page with my starting debt at the top and then minus my monthly repayments works out where I am at the moment (pulls it over from monthly pages). And then I have a page for each month with all income, all outgoings and any savings and all expenditure. All in one place! Lots of pretty colours too!!

Imelda

oooh I have a graph for my mortgage (it's pink too) maybe I should add my other debts and savings? I am so glad there are others out there too!

mocolo

This spreadsheet thing is so addictive.....
I have a yearly on one page sheet with all the months. Its sectioned:

income 1
income 2
Household expenditure (this is just my bill account so I know what to transfer each month to cover-mortgage etc)
additional expenditure
this includes regular savings etc
each main section has a sub total and an overall at the end.

I then have a separate detailed mortgage sheet and a separate assets and debts sheet so in theory I can see the assets go up and the debt come down.

I agree with an earlier poster - anal or what? I am not briliant with excel- the original budget spreadsheet came with a readers digest book that mum got me! Does anyone know if there is a limit on the number of worksheet you can have?

sorry for long post but I could go on for ages talking about spreadsheets!

good thread.

Chrismojam

Sod the housework.....I'm back on my pc:D looking at my spreadsheets:o seeing what can be done to lower my debt and increase my savings...like NOW!!!!........did I mention I'm a bit impatient:rolleyes:

How does that work....being an inpatient procrastinator??

kuohu

I use MS Money to log everything. Been doing it since January and look at it pretty much every day (along with my internet banking).

Budgeting - my budgets for food, cash withdrawal and petrol are on there and displayed graphically on my front page so if it goes red, I've gone over my limit. Useful to see 'at a glance' where I am at any point in the month.

Debt reduction planning - the debt reduction planner has helped me see how my monthly repayments are affecting the overall debt free date. Used this a lot for clearing a CC debt.

Visual display of debt reduction - I use the report for Net Worth History to show graphically my debt coming down (or the net worth becoming less negative, as it were). Nice to see it going up and up each month, and the display of the percentage change.

I know you guys can do all of the above in Excel but I really wouldnt be without my MS Money

Nick

elantan

can anyone explain to a total novice in both computing and spreadsheets exactly how this works and where i can get the stuff from i noticed a few of you talking about excell what is it? where can i get it from and for a total novice is it easy? thanks in advance

angela110660

Even though I consider myself pretty switched on with the pc I have to confess that our family finances are written out in a red school exercise book each month. All the direct debits etc added up. This figure deducted from the running total in the cheque book and what is left is food and other household bits. The savings for Xmas, car, holiday etc are already accounted for in the red book.
We have used this system for years, I have tried spreadsheets, MS Money and to be honest, I cannot be bothered to waste my time. I would rather pull out the book, cheque book, check the bank online or by phone and that keeps our heads above water.