Budget Spreadsheet - Opinions & Ideas

pickleiamin

Guys

I am in the process of making my budget spreadsheet using excel. I dont want it massivley complicated. I am however stuck as to what I want :think:

I want a sheet that shows a snapshot of my overall accounts. I.e current account, loan, credit card

Then, I would like a sheet or set of sheets that have a daily view of whats happening in my current accounts. I.e every penny I spend I would like noting down.

Now, I was thinking about setting up sheets for each month. Is this what most people do? Then in that sheet split it down further to days and categories, showing in comings and out goings that month. I.e so I can see what DD is coming out and when.

I know this may sound over complicated to some people but i really want to know where and when and how my money is coming out.

The remaining sheets will have my loan and CC on, which is pretty simple enough.

Thanks for your help

mental_about_money

I've discovered that I spend so much time tweaking and improving my spreadsheets that I don't actually have any time left to spend any money - it's a great idea. Good to keep such a close eye on where you are financially at any one time - gives you a boost to look at the figures - IF things are going in the right direction. Good luck

pickleiamin

Hehe.

I really want to make sure where my money is going and where I can tweak my finances, i.e where I need and can save money. Like Martin says in one of his guides on here, looking at your account statement isnt good enough, nor truthful enough.

Consumerist

I use an excel workbook for each account containing a worksheet for each month (I actually use 14 workseets in each workbook to cover the previous December and the following January to provide some overlap).

I haven't got a workbook to provide an overall snapshot but I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to copy the current balances from the account workbooks into a separate "summary" workbook.

It is true that you can continually tweak your workbooks because you are never quite satisfied. As always - don't forget to keep back-ups of all workbooks.

The great thing about having your own copies of your accounts situation is that you can use them to test various what-if scenarios.

Good luck with it.

pickleiamin

Consumerist wrote: »

I use an excel workbook for each account containing a worksheet for each month (I actually use 14 workseets in each workbook to cover the previous December and the following January to provide some overlap).

I haven't got a workbook to provide an overall snapshot but I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to copy the current balances from the account workbooks into a separate "summary" workbook.

It is true that you can continually tweak your workbooks because you are never quite satisfied. As always - don't forget to keep back-ups of all workbooks.

The great thing about having your own copies of your accounts situation is that you can use them to test various what-if scenarios.

Good luck with it.

Excellent, something I never thought about really.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated

chris_m

I have a pair of worksheets detailing each of my bank accounts and credit cards, with a list of direct debits, cash withdrawals and income income for the current account, one column for each month. On top of that are entries for transfers to/from savings account, etc and formulae to show the month end balance of each credit card as an expenditure on the current account. I also have "spare" rows which are included in the overall calculations where I can enter proposed spend or anticipated additional income for "what if" scenarios.

Planned expenditure is incremented annually by reference to a single cell containing an anticipated inflation figure, likewise anticipated interest in savings references a cell for the BoE base rate with an estimated (or known) variance, eg 2% over Base.
When expenditure or income is confirmed I replace the expected figure or formula with the actual value. For credit card spend I simply enter each cost in a simple formula, eg =22.65 + 11.38+52.60. I don't keep a record of cash purchases, only the amount I've drawn and when. it's only a few tens of pounds a month though, as much as possible goes on a cashback or other reward credit card.

These two worksheets extend as far as my 85th birthday (!!!!), and are backed up by a shedload of massive macros to plan transfers between accounts to get the most money in the best earning account and to drop in the switch from salary to pension at various ages, thereby allowing me to forecast when it is likely that I will be able to kiss bye-bye to work and still be able to survive to an age where I probably won't care any more - it even gives me a count of slaving (ops, working) days left ;-)

I keep more detailed records of actual income/spend in Quicken - so that allows me to look at where I spent what, whilst the Excel workbook lets me have a quick snapshot at any chosen date for a choice of scenarios.

I've used this system for years and it's worked very well for me so far - the forecasting part has proved very useful, without it I'd assumed I'd have to work to 60 or 65, with it I realised I could finish much earlier. Although I'm the first to admit it's loaded with assumptions it's a great spur to me to do my best to "make it happen".

pickleiamin

Right

I have been working on the spreadsheet now and it seems good. I have a worksheet for each month and on that work sheet i have a daily breakdown and a breakdown of where my money has gone. At the bottom is the total of my current account. So, I can see what my account will look like in the coming month / months.

This has made me feel a whole lot better and I am feeling like I am getting on top of my finanaces

Now, I am a little confused. Maybe I am over complicating things. here goes anyways.

If I get the train everyday it obviously costs me. When I go out on a weekend biking I usually have a slice of cake at the end with a friend as a thanks for driving. So I want to budget these into my spreadsheet.

Would you, put the individual cost daily for trains, or, put at the beginning of the month?
Would you do the same for things like cake for biking etc?

The way I have set my spreadsheet up I can see a snapshot of my balance you see and if I put it at the start of the month as a bulk its not a true snapshot. Or, would you do something else?

I think thats clear?

TIA

Consumerist

Surely you pay for such things as cake from the cash in your pocket and this cash will have been previously withdrawn from an account so that particular expediture has already been "accounted" for. I don't quite understand why you would want to put every single cash purchase into a spreadsheet.

Have I got your meaning right ?

pickleiamin

You have sort of Consumerist.

I do normally take money out of the ATM and this would be down on my spreadsheet as cash withdrawls. I dont then break it down further. However if I have paid for it on my debit card I do of course mark it down on my spreadsheet as accuratly as I can.

Now, I want to be able to put on my spreadsheet for a few weeks / months in advance so I can budget it and of course, see if I can afford it. Same for my trainfare etc. I.e if its a "needed" thing I need to pay for, I want to see where I can make sacrifices elsewhere to help budget for this.

So, would it be a case of making a judgement of say £5 a weekend for things like cake after biking? Put this in my spreadsheet on a weekend.

Consumerist

It's possible you are demanding too much detail. What happens if you happen to forget a day-to-day purchase?

I tend, myself, to withdraw money for my day-to-needs, for a month at a time, in a lump sum and enter the withdrawal into the accounts. I simply couldn't run the risk of forgetting one of a number of purchases at the end of each day and, anyway, the spreadsheet would become so cumbersome I wouldn't be able to see the wood for the trees.

Take my word for it, it's better to keep it uncluttered and easy to follow.

pickleiamin

Hmmm yes maybe I am.

I know if I dont cycle into work on a "typical" month I spend £60 on train fares. Now, at the moment I dont have that in my spreadsheet. So further down the month when I things are a little tighter I know I still have enough money for train fares etc.

Im tired now so shall sleep on it Thanks Consumerist, the feedback is much appreciated.

It maybe a case of remebering I have x amount of days left in the month and I need x pounds to cover xyz?