How to Create a Simple Budget in Excel

Let's face it - for most people, creating a budget is never fun. But at least with Excel it can be fairly easy. These steps work for Excel 97.

Things You'll Need

• Excel Book
• Microsoft Excel

Instructions

Setting Up Budget Categories

1. Start Microsoft Excel and open a new spreadsheet.

2. Click on A1 cell and enter Categories. Press the Enter key.

3. Enter the word Income in cells A2 and A3.

4. Enter the word Living in cells A4 through A10.

5. Enter the word Other in cells A11 through A15.

6. Enter the word Description in cell B1. Press the Enter key.

7. Enter, in cells C1 through H1, the months January through June.

8. Drag over the first row.

9. Click B (boldface icon) on the toolbar.

10. Drag over the first column.

11. Click B (boldface icon) on the toolbar.

12. Drag over the cells B2 and B3.

13. Enter the name(s) of people earning income in your household.

14. Drag over the cells B4 and B10. This highlights the B cells for the Living categories.

15. Enter Rent, Food, Water, Trash, Gas, Electric, and Telephone in these cells. (Substitute other descriptions depending on your needs.) Press the Enter key after each entry.

16. Drag over the cells B11 and B15. This highlights the B cells for the Other categories.

17. Enter Books, Tuition, Transportation, Medical, and Housekeeping in these cells. (Substitute other descriptions depending on your needs.)

Totaling Your Budget

1. Drag over the cells that contain your budget and the labels.

2. Open the Data menu and select Subtotals.

3. In the Subtotal dialog box, ensure Categories is selected in the "At each change in" option.

4. Select January, February, March, April, May and June in the "Add subtotal to" option.

5. Click OK.

6. Select the Grand Total row.

7. Open the Edit menu and select Delete.

8. In the box that appears, select Entire Row, then click OK.

9. Enter the label Monthly Savings in the cell where the title Grand Total was located.

10. Click in the cell in the Monthly Savings row and the January (C) column.

11. Enter + and the cell name of the Income total. For example, +C4.

12. Enter -. For example, +C4-

13. Enter ( and the cell name of the Living total. For example, +C4-(C12

14. Enter + and the cell name of the Other total. For example, +C4-(C12+C17

15. Enter ) and press the Enter key. For example, +C4-(C12+C17)

16. Repeat for each remaining month.

Entering the Numbers

1. Drag over the cells C2 through C15.

2. Enter your budget amounts (the amount of money you anticipate spending). For example, under Rent, enter 1200.

3. Drag over the cells C2 through C15.

4. Open the Edit menu and select Copy.

5. Drag over the cells D2 through H2.

6. Open the Edit menu and select Paste.

7. Modify your new entries according to your actual monthly expense amounts, if available. For example, Tuition for the months of February through June could be 0.

Tips & Warnings

• The category labels help Excel when creating subtotals.

• You can increase or decrease the Income, Living, and Other rows depending on your personal needs.