How to Make Spreadsheets to Keep Track of Expenses
Keeping track of expenses is an important part of budgeting and managing your finances. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using a spreadsheet. Creating and maintaining an expenses spreadsheet is much simpler than it appears, and is certainly a better option than trying to figure out the expenses at the end of the month with a calculator and pencil. You can program a spreadsheet to automatically calculate the data you input, so that you can instantly see where you stand against your budget after each purchase. This not only helps you keep track of expenses, but also to avoid budget blow outs.
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Instructions
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Type "Expenses" in a new, blank spreadsheet, into cell A1. Save the spreadsheet, giving it a title such as "monthly expenses."
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Type in all your expense categories down column A. For example, you may have groceries, utility bills, mortgage and insurance as categories: type "Groceries" into cell A2; "Utility Bills" into cell A3; "Mortgage" into cell A4 and so on until all your expense categories are input.
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Type in the names of the months across the top of the spreadsheet, starting with "January" in cell B1, ending with "December" in cell M1.
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Type "Spent" into cell N1, followed by "Allocated Budget" or just "Budget" in cell O1 and "Budget VS Spent" or something similar into P1.
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Input the sum formula "=SUM(B2:M2)" into the "Spent" cell, N2. This will add all the amounts you input for groceries each month. Repeat this formula in each of the N cells with an expense category in the corresponding A cells--you'll need to adjust the cell numbers as you go down. For example, the next cell, N3, will be for utility bills and will be formatted as "=SUM(B3:M3)," and so on for each expense category.
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Type in the allocated budget amount for each expense category down the "Budget" column "O"--this is a set amount for the whole year.
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Input the subtraction formula "=O2-N2" into the "Budget VS Spent" cell, P2. Repeat this formula for each expense category, changing the numbers as you go down the cells as you did for the sum formula. This gives the total figure, in either positive or negative numbers, of your budget balance.
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Find the number of the last row of your expense categories. We will call it "#".
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Input "=SUM(N2:N#)" into the cell below the # cell of column N. This gives the total spent over the year on all expenses.
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Input "=SUM(O2:O#)" into the cell below the # cell of column O. This gives the total budgeted for expenses for the year.
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Input "=SUM(P2:P#)" into the cell below the # cell of column P. This is the total of the spending versus your budget. This figure will be in a negative number if you have blown the budget; if there is a positive figure, you have spent within budget, well done.
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References
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