'How many spreadsheets and graphs do you have?' blog discussion.

Martinslovechild

glider3560 wrote: »

You've just tempted me...

This graph shows where I spend money (as a percentage of the total spent). The large spend in M&S is due to the fact I have a huge wad of gift vouchers (from various promotions).

And me too... My credit card statements read like a phone book of record shops around the U.K. (and the world for that matter!!).

Seriously though, my trusty 'ISA.xls' spreadsheet is constantly updated, as are my 'Pension.xls' and 'Net Worth.xls' sheets.

It's extremely useful knowing exactly where you are, where you've been, where you're going and how long it might take to get there...

ljhhuk

I have a spreadsheet for my bank account which mimics my on-line statment except that if I want to buy something, I put it on the spreadsheet and can see what that spend does to my finances. Has stopped me making quite a few unwise purchases!
I also have a spreadsheet to keep track of my savings and investments - the ups and downs!

I have no idea how to do a chart!! Any help out there??

pruney

I have a few spreadsheets for monthly budget, wages, christmas expenditure, house spending, etc but no-one beats my mother who has spreadsheets to document her entire life and her achievement of her personal targets; she fills it in everyday, gives points to herself for different categories (family/friends, theatre, house, holidays, etc). Her life is one big spreadsheet and I thank you for highlighting this mug, the perfect gift for her for mother's day but for, moneysaver that I am, I found it cheaper on ebay here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/I-Love-Spreadsheets-Mug---Gift---Home-%26-Office---New_W0QQitemZ330531368630QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=216041204541&rvr_id=216041204541&cguid=a8fa130712c0a0aa15059f05fff871da
Cheers Martin

Beaverman33

I LOVE SPREADSHEETS!!!!!

I have spreadsheets for everything -

Salary from work - Calculates Tax, NI, pay rates etc and records salary changes over time
Budget - Monthly budget spreadsheet for spending
House value estimates - tracks the property value of the properties I own (I own a small buy-to-let portfolio)
Mortgage calculations - calculates all of the key parameters for the mortgages that I have for my buy-to-let portfolio
Annual tax calculation - used to track and calculate my tax return. This I then use to crosscheck against the on-line form that I fill in for HMRC
Travel Log (private) - calculates my fuel allowances for work done on my BTL portfolio
Travel Log (work) - calculates my fuel allowances for when I'm at work (they don't pay the full rate so this is offset-able against my tax allowance)
Christmas & Birthday present planning spreadsheet - budget and present logging spreadsheet for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentines etc
Holiday budget planning - self explanatory!
E-bay sales - tracks all of my e-bay sales & fees to work out profit on my sales
Jogging tracker - tracks the stats of my jogging which I also graph and calculate performance trends from

SPREAD THE SPREADSHEET LOVE!!!

twirlypinky

I have a spreadsheet with where i paste in my bank statement, at least weekly, i then update every line with the type of spend and the period the transaction falls into (i can't simply use the transaction date for this as my "period" is the time between one pay date and another, i could set up a formula but i've not got round to it yet). This then feeds a pivot of my spend per type, eg "car, clothes, eating out, groceries, personal care" etc.

I then have the exact same again for my credit card, which i clear monthly. I don't have charts yet, but i might set up a pie chart, it would be nice to have a visual representation of my spends. I think the petrol section would probably be rather large!

I don't use microsoft money or any of that nonsense, i'd rather do it myself.

I also have seperate tracking spreadsheets for my savings, since i'm saving for several things in just two "pots".

I have another set of spreadsheets for future mortgage calculations, tracking against fairly current available rates, so i'll know what my monthly repayments would be and what difference an overpayment would make. I want to be fully prepared when that deposit is finally fully saved.

I also have another sheet for wedding planning, one for the financing and another for the check list of things done and things still to do. And also a guest list.

Feel a bit of a geek now.

curlygirl1971

I'm not alone! :j

In the past I've had spreadsheets & graphs for a number of different things including Swimming, Weight. I have one that records Paintings by my favourite Artist (Title, Date, Gallery, City, Country, when I saw it, how many time's I've seen it ). Some have just been lists and some have actually 'done' things.

I've been keeping financial records on SS for over 13 years but in the real world this is actually a dirty secret. Most people have reacted with varying degrees of amusement and horror if I've mentioned that I record my spending.....they don't know the half of it. My obsession is so bad that it's actually one of my favourite pass times. Fortunately I have a very understanding if not bemused BF.

I have my 'Net Worth' Sheet & Graph (which is fed by a range of other sheets including one that tracks the estimated value of my house based on data from the Land Registry and sales of my neighbouring houses)

My favourite sheet & graph shows the predicted course of my mortgage 1) Had I never made OP's 2) With OP's uptodate but no further OP's in the future 3) With OP's continuing. Love that sheet.

I have a Savings Spreadsheet which forecasts my savings a/ct balances for the next 10 years :rotfl:and a pie chart that shows how much is in Instant Access/Fixed/Taxable/Tax Free

My fuel consumption sheet is the latest addition to my portfolio no graph yet

Anyone would think I had an empire to look after - I don't and at times what I've had has been very very little but I do believe that tracking, forecasting and seeing things in black and white has helped enourmously and been instrumental in building up savings on a low salary

One thing I would say is.....regularly back up. March 2005 was a very dark month for me :eek: I now email my spreadsheet to myself every month so I at least have a fairly recent copy of it.

I've got a couple of ideas from this thread - thank-you!

edinburgher

Yay - data geeks unite!

I don't use any graphs, as Microsoft Office doesn't like me. Especially Microsoft Office 2010, as they've changed the interface and I'm too stuck in my ways to learn about it. Still, it only cost me £10 through an employee purchase programme, so on cheapness terms can almost compete with Open Office as the office suit du jour :money:

Spreadsheets on the other hand, are just about the most empowering use for a computer I've ever found, as seeing regularly updated figures in black and white makes it much easier to visualise goals. My fiancee finds my weekly cry of 'I'm off to update my spreadsheets' funny, but it's a habit that's helped me out of unsecured debt, stick to a budget and be within a whisker of being able to afford my own home

I regularly use three spreadsheets:

1. Balance tracker/budget: I create 12 copies of this at the start of the year and use it to track my bank balance. I don't actively track spend, but do adjust balances as bills are paid etc. so I know what I've got left
2. Savings tracker: This spreadsheet is shared by my fiancee and I (we use Google Docs) and shows a running total of the money held in our Emergency Fund/Cash ISAs/Stocks ISAs/Credit Union account/Zopa and how close we are to our financial goals
3. Exercise tracker: Oh the shame This is another spreadsheet shared through Google Docs and shows my [STRIKE]lack of [/STRIKE] exercise progress

Does anyone else use Google Docs or spreadsheets held in a cloud so as to share with friends or family?

misterfish

edinburgher wrote: »

Yay - data geeks unite!

I don't use any graphs, as Microsoft Office doesn't like me. Especially Microsoft Office 2010, as they've changed the interface and I'm too stuck in my ways to learn about it.

Have a look at http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages/ as it adds an 'old style' menu option to 2007/2010 and is free for private use.

Misterfish

rogerkis

If you are interested in financial modelling and Excel in general - check this site out... chandoo dot org

mssloan

Hi,

I have one spreadsheet, called The Mountain, which I'm using to keep track of Credit Card and Bank Loan debts. It has been a great help to see wear I stand and how I'm reducing (most of the time) my debts month by month. Trying to turn a mountain into a mole hill. I password protected the spreadsheet because I'm using fields to store passwords and pin numbers as well (hidden by matching the text color to the background - viewable by selecting the cells).

mssloan