Monday, November 2, 2009

How to do a personal budgeting spreadsheet

do a personal budgeting spreadsheet


It's interesting:
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Many people don’-t fully realize where all their money goes during the month. Money tends to slip through the cracks if we don't track it. Making a personal budget spreadsheet is one the best ways to manage your money. The spreadsheets can list all income and expenses. Computerized spreadsheets track all the money coming in and going out by using formulas that do the math for you. This feature makes budgeting easier especially for those who resist making budgets because of the math involved.

Things You'll Need

  • Personal finance records

Instructions

    • 1

      Collect records for all personal income and expenses in a typical month. Separate the income and expense items to be entered in your spreadsheet.

    • 2

      Find a personal budgeting spreadsheet template that best fits what you need. Use a standard template to save you time from making a new one from scratch. The math formulas are already included.

    • 3

      Open Microsoft Excel, if your computer has this program. Otherwise, skip to Step 5. Click on the “-Office Button”- and select “-New.”-

    • 4

      Choose “-Budgets”- from the template list and click on “-Home Budgets.”- Scroll through the list until you locate a “-Personal Budget”- that suits your needs. Use a template from Microsoft Office online if don’-t find one you want. Skip the next step.

    • 5

      Use a free personal budget spreadsheet template available online from Open Office, if your computer does not have Microsoft Excel. Search through the templates and select the one that best suits what you need. Narrow the search by skipping templates with titles you don’-t need, such as wedding, checkbook or health insurance. Click on the templates for more information and download the template that best matches what you want.

    • 6

      Review the personal budgeting spreadsheet template to determine what changes are needed. For instance, you might need to rename some categories or add new categories. Right-click and delete any categories not needed or leave them blank.

    • 7

      Highlight the category names and type the new name that fits your needs. Right click on the number of a row and select “-Insert”- to add new rows. Only add rows above the “-Total”- areas to ensure they are included in the total formulas.

    • 8

      Fill in the “-Income”- section of the budget spreadsheet using your personal records. Complete the budget spreadsheet’-s “-Expense”- section in the same manner. Use your mouse to select cells each time or the “-Tab”- key. The total sections continuously change as you add figures into the cells from the math formulas included in the template.

    • 9

      Examine the outcome to get a complete picture of your personal finances. Note specific expenses that require changes if your monthly expenses are more than your income. Determine what you must change to meet next month’-s budget. Perhaps you'll see that you are doing fine with your expenses and have a surplus of income to invest or save.

    • 10

      Save and name the personal budgeting spreadsheet.

Tips &- Warnings

  • set realistic personal budgeting goals

  • write down all personal spending, account for everything

  • don't overestimate income and underestimate expenses

  • do not try to eliminate personal need items, rather include them and then try to cut back


Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: personal budgeting, budgeting spreadsheet, personal budgeting spreadsheet, budget spreadsheet, spreadsheet template, that best