Diy expense keeping spreadsheets

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Building an expense keeping spreadsheet is a skill many adults do not understand. There are no high school classes to provide students with the everyday budgeting skills they need to keep their finances on track as they grow into adulthood. Create an expense keeping spreadsheet by choosing your spreadsheet software, adding your dynamic and static expenses, adding in your monthly income and figuring your total disposable income.

1. Choose Your Spreadsheet Software

   • A majority of spreadsheets are created in Microsoft Office Excel, although Microsoft Office Excel can be expensive. Download free spreadsheet software from OpenOffice.Com, or download any number of free spreadsheet programs found on the Web.

   Create Monthly Dynamic and Static Expenses

   • Dynamic expenses are expenses that vary from month to month such as dining out, movies, books or computer games. Dynamic expenses are expenses you can quickly eliminate or reduce. For instance, to reduce your dining-out expense, simply eat grocery-purchased whole foods. Static expenses are expenses that remain roughly the same from month to month such as your mortgage, car payment and car insurance.

     Open your spreadsheet software and list all of your dynamic and static expenses down the left-most column of cells (leaving the first row of the spreadsheet empty). In the first row--across the top of the spreadsheet--add in the next few months of the year. Fill in all of your expenses for this month based on bank records, credit card records or receipts you have saved. Using a spreadsheet sum formula "=sum(b2:b8)" or manual calculation, total all of your monthly expenses.

   Add in Monthly Income

   • At the bottom of your spreadsheet (under your total monthly expenses), type in your regular monthly income and fill in that number to the right until every month has a regular monthly income entry. If you have extra monthly income such as a hobby that generates income, fill that in just below the regular monthly income entries and then--below extra monthy income--use a formula "=SUM(B11:B12)" or manual calculation to get a total monthly income.

   Total Your Monthly Disposable Income

   • Your monthly disposable income is the amount of money you have left over after all of your bills are paid. Type "Monthly Disposable Income" beneath your total monthly income entry. Use a formula "=B13-B9" or manually subtract your total monthly expenses from your total monthly income to ring up your monthly disposable income.

     You want your monthly disposable income to be a positive number. If your monthly disposable income is a negative number, make reductions on your dynamic expenses for the next month by not dining out as much or skipping movies, for example.

Source: www.ehow.com

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