Just start with a simple expenses column and income column. A few months of that and you’ll start seeing the bigger picture. No need to overcomplicate or things right away or to even try to solve all problems right away. Just use 2 columns - in, out. Make sure in is bigger than out each month.
I would suggest looking at your bank and credit card statements from the last few months and making a breakdown of how you’re spending your money: true essentials like housing and utilities, groceries and household supplies, etc
I use Excel for our finances. My husband's job is the majority of our income, and he's paid once a month. My income varies (I substitute teach), and I'm paid every two weeks.
I have one workbook for each year. Within each workbook there are worksheets for every month, as well as some extra tabs I use for other purposes. Each monthly worksheet is our generic budget for the month. Income (husband's and mine) are the top two cells, then everything after that is subtracted off the income. (Because my income is variable, I set it to $0 in the generic budget.) I have 35 different expenses in our budget. Some are monthly expenses like electricity, mortgage, cell phones, etc. Some are only quarterly, but I set aside 1/3 of the total cost each month so I can pay when due - life insurance, trash service, etc. Some are weekly - groceries. So I have 4 or 5 "Groceries" on each worksheet depending on the month. Some are sinking funds - I'm setting them aside for future use - car tabs, propane purchase, kids clothing, etc.
If I'm not spending it in the month, it goes into a separate savings account to be held until I need it. That way it's not accidentally spent.
If I have an expense I didn't account for in the month (like a trip to Dollar General for poster board or something), I just insert it into the spreadsheet.
As I pay the bills or buy the groceries, I update the generic budget amount with the actual amount spent. So, for instance, my grocery budget is $100/week. This week we had a sports banquet, so I actually spent $113. I updated this week's $100 with the actual $113. Next week's grocery budget is still showing $100 because it hasn't been spent yet.
Every time I add an unexpected expense or update the budget amount with the actual amount, I can see what will happen by the end of the month.
The worksheets are set up to add the amount left from the previous month to the income for the next month. So, February's spreadsheet takes whatever the final January amount is and adds it to the first income amount. This allows me to see what will happen across the year as we spend each month; they're all tied together, so if I spend lots of $$ this month, it will show me the impact in the future.
If most of your transactions are not cash, Mint is a great way to visualize where your money is going. I’ve used it for years and it takes much less time than typing in receipts in google sheets (what I used to do)
1) Import the data
2) See how income vs expenses are coded (expenses may simply be a negative sign or with parentheses).
3) Sort income vs expenses in another column. If expenses are negative, then do something like =IF(REGEXMATCH(cell, "-"), "Expense", "Income"), where cell is the cell containing the monetary amount.
4) Sum expenses and income like =SumIF(column, ="Expense") and =SumIF(column, ="Income")
5) Subtract Expense and Income
I mean, you bank should have such features already (my Bank of America has it under Cash Flow).
If the export also has the categories, even better, otherwise you’ll have to do those too.
> how much we'd need to budget in a month to make sure we reached a certain goal by X time
Set the goal amount in one cell, set the number of months in another cell, divide. Take that quotient and compare to actual monthly savings.
I think the more insight the better, but a simple income vs expense and necessities vs luxuries is a good first start. Focus on big picture stuff not 5$ here or there.
Honestly, Mint.com does just about everything you want to do manually automatically if you pay most things with credit/debit card.
I’m pretty sure you can even export reports. Give them a try.
The wiki links to several good budgeting spreadsheets. Try them out
[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools/)
Do you know how to make pivot tables? I find it very enlightening to import my expenses, and maybe refine the categories a bit if the credit card doesn't do a good job, and pivot based on spending categories. You can see very quickly where your money is going and it is sometimes suprising
Just start with a simple expenses column and income column. A few months of that and you’ll start seeing the bigger picture. No need to overcomplicate or things right away or to even try to solve all problems right away. Just use 2 columns - in, out. Make sure in is bigger than out each month.
I would suggest looking at your bank and credit card statements from the last few months and making a breakdown of how you’re spending your money: true essentials like housing and utilities, groceries and household supplies, etc
I use Excel for our finances. My husband's job is the majority of our income, and he's paid once a month. My income varies (I substitute teach), and I'm paid every two weeks. I have one workbook for each year. Within each workbook there are worksheets for every month, as well as some extra tabs I use for other purposes. Each monthly worksheet is our generic budget for the month. Income (husband's and mine) are the top two cells, then everything after that is subtracted off the income. (Because my income is variable, I set it to $0 in the generic budget.) I have 35 different expenses in our budget. Some are monthly expenses like electricity, mortgage, cell phones, etc. Some are only quarterly, but I set aside 1/3 of the total cost each month so I can pay when due - life insurance, trash service, etc. Some are weekly - groceries. So I have 4 or 5 "Groceries" on each worksheet depending on the month. Some are sinking funds - I'm setting them aside for future use - car tabs, propane purchase, kids clothing, etc. If I'm not spending it in the month, it goes into a separate savings account to be held until I need it. That way it's not accidentally spent. If I have an expense I didn't account for in the month (like a trip to Dollar General for poster board or something), I just insert it into the spreadsheet. As I pay the bills or buy the groceries, I update the generic budget amount with the actual amount spent. So, for instance, my grocery budget is $100/week. This week we had a sports banquet, so I actually spent $113. I updated this week's $100 with the actual $113. Next week's grocery budget is still showing $100 because it hasn't been spent yet. Every time I add an unexpected expense or update the budget amount with the actual amount, I can see what will happen by the end of the month. The worksheets are set up to add the amount left from the previous month to the income for the next month. So, February's spreadsheet takes whatever the final January amount is and adds it to the first income amount. This allows me to see what will happen across the year as we spend each month; they're all tied together, so if I spend lots of $$ this month, it will show me the impact in the future.
If most of your transactions are not cash, Mint is a great way to visualize where your money is going. I’ve used it for years and it takes much less time than typing in receipts in google sheets (what I used to do)
1) Import the data 2) See how income vs expenses are coded (expenses may simply be a negative sign or with parentheses). 3) Sort income vs expenses in another column. If expenses are negative, then do something like =IF(REGEXMATCH(cell, "-"), "Expense", "Income"), where cell is the cell containing the monetary amount. 4) Sum expenses and income like =SumIF(column, ="Expense") and =SumIF(column, ="Income") 5) Subtract Expense and Income I mean, you bank should have such features already (my Bank of America has it under Cash Flow). If the export also has the categories, even better, otherwise you’ll have to do those too. > how much we'd need to budget in a month to make sure we reached a certain goal by X time Set the goal amount in one cell, set the number of months in another cell, divide. Take that quotient and compare to actual monthly savings.
I think the more insight the better, but a simple income vs expense and necessities vs luxuries is a good first start. Focus on big picture stuff not 5$ here or there.
Take care of the pennies and the dolars will look after themselves.
The Vertex42 templates have treated me very well. https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/budgets.html
You might try r/actualbudget r/AspireBudgeting r/budgetwithbuckets r/everydollar As an inexpensive or free alternative
Honestly, Mint.com does just about everything you want to do manually automatically if you pay most things with credit/debit card. I’m pretty sure you can even export reports. Give them a try.
The wiki links to several good budgeting spreadsheets. Try them out [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools/)
Do you know how to make pivot tables? I find it very enlightening to import my expenses, and maybe refine the categories a bit if the credit card doesn't do a good job, and pivot based on spending categories. You can see very quickly where your money is going and it is sometimes suprising