- PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS HOW TO
- PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS DOWNLOAD
- PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS FREE
We still tried to limit other, unnecessary spending that month, but the baby needed diapers, the dogs needed food and there were other expenses we simply couldn’t avoid. The cost of our flights tipped our monthly budget upside down. The exception to the monthly balance rule is this: If the month doesn’t balance out, be sure the year will.Ī perfect example of this is our airfare for an upcoming trip to the U.S. When the Month Doesn’t Balance, Look at the Bigger Picture At the end of the month, we were able to balance things out. Our grocery budget was maxed out, so we didn’t spend much on personal things like clothes or travel. Take, for example, hosting Thanksgiving dinner for eight hungry expats and baking for two community fundraisers in the same month in 2014. The idea is that if one category goes over our budget, we can keep things balanced by remaining under budget in other areas. When that happens, we try to stay under our spending limits in other categories. Sometimes we overspend in a single month in a single category. However, we’ve saved more than $1,200 a year by ditching our data plans, so it’s worth it to us to manually enter our expenses. There are probably smartphone apps out there that would help automate this process for us. The template’s built-in formulas immediately show us how each expense affects our actual spending versus our budgeted spending - for each category, for the month and for the year.
When either of us is asked the question, “Would you like a receipt?” the answer is always “Yes.” The receipts go into a stack on our kitchen counter, and every few days I enter those receipts into our budget template.
If I buy a three dollar cup of coffee, it goes into the budget. If we spend two dollars on parking, we track the expense. Track Every ExpenseĮvery expense goes into the budget. Our budget rules might be simple, but the results are astounding at the end of last year, we’d saved $6,000 more than we’d hoped to save! Here’s how we do it: 1.
PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS DOWNLOAD
The trick? Our family’s Epic Google Budget Template, which you can download for yourself right here.
Last year we put approximately 60% of our income into long-term savings and investments, and we’re on track to do the same this year. Afterward, we buckled down because we needed to. We’ve adopted a second dog, we’ve moved into a larger home and we’ve still managed to save more money each year than we did before I left full-time employment.īefore I left my job, we spent money more freely because we could afford to. We’ve traveled around Europe on long weekends and holidays, and we’ve made two trips home to the U.S. How, exactly, were we going to live on a single income?įast forward two years, and we’ve had our first child. Travel the world or work the 9-5? The decision was easy, but the budget ramifications were not.
PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS HOW TO
You may learn how to use Excel better in the process.Two years ago, I left my full-time job when my husband’s job gave us the unique opportunity to move to Bavarian Germany for a few years. If you use and customize any template for your personal budget, make sure you understand how it works and always double-check the formulas. The flexibility comes at the price of possibly deleting or messing up an important formula, or making bad assumptions. In my opinion, the #1 problem associated with using a spreadsheet for your personal budget is the chance that you'll make errors. it's just a disclosure to say that I don't ONLY use Excel any more.Ī spreadsheet may not be the best budgeting solution for everybody. I started out using Excel to do everything, but I began using Quicken after a friend showed me how easy it was to keep track of checks and credit card charges and download transactions directly from my bank. A budget is almost useless without tracking what you are spending. For expense tracking, you could use my Income and Expense Worksheet, Checkbook Register, or the newer Money Manager. Tracking your income and spending comes both before and after making a budget. For example, I like to use cell comments to explain certain budgeted items in more detail (such as the fact that in May, there is Mother's Day and a couple of birthdays to remember).Ĭreating a simple personal budget (even if it is only on paper) is one of the first steps to gaining control of your spending habits. The reason I use Excel when working with my home and business budgets is that it gives me complete flexibility to keep track of the information the way I want to.
PERSONAL BUDGET GOOGLE SHEETS FREE
If you don't own Excel, then Google Sheets and OpenOffice are free options to consider. Microsoft Excel isn't free, but if you already own Excel, then you can create a budget without purchasing other budgeting software. 42 Effective Ways to Save Money Budgeting Tips for the New Year Why Use Excel for your Personal Budget?įirst reason: it's free.
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