You may learn how to use Excel better in the process. 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. If you want to save money for a specific goal, you may need to pay yourself first with even 5 or 10 into a savings account to ensure money goes toward your goal every montheven if that means. 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. For example, you may decide you want to use your budget to help you get out of debt, buy a home, or save up for your kids’ future education. A good way to split up your savings and expenditures is by putting them into budget percentages. You may want to start with a few broad spending categories or monthly expenses and narrow them down as you learn your spending patterns. Maybe you can get all the information you need by logging into your bank account or maybe you need to gather paper statements. 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. When you are making a personal budget, you need one that is realistic for your needs. Before you can dig into personal budgeting, you need your financial information. 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. 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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