With gas hovering around four dollars a gallon and food prices continuing to rise, everyone is trying to cut back, strap down, or tighten an already tight belt strap. Many sites offer fancy budgeting software or intense tutorials to keep track of your money, but I want to show you how to make a simple, effective budget in Excel.
- Open Excel (it is a Microsoft Office program that is on most computers)
- Create your categories
- Highlight row 1, columns A,B,C
- Right click and select format cells
- In the alignment tab select merge cells
- Type in the title for your first category (some examples are grocery, bills, medical, entertainment, etc.)
- Repeat a-d for as many categories as you want (moving to columns D,E,F…)
- Include a category for deposits
- Under each category include the following titles (Rows and columns in directions apply to first category)
- In row 1, column A type: Date
- In row 1, column B type: Amount
- In row 1, column C type: Details (this is where you will write the store name or other details about the purchase)
- Save your work and take a moment to breathe, because you are almost done. Maybe drink some coffee or smile at your spouse. Okay, back to work.
- Tell Excel to add your amounts for each column
- Go down to row 25 and select the box under the title amount
- Click on the top tab that says formulas
- Click Auto Sum
- Select all the cells between your cell and the cell labeled amount
- This tells the computer to add any entries you put in these cells and put the answer in cell 25
- Repeat this for all categories
- Create a page for each month
- On the bottom left there is a little tab to insert a new worksheet. Insert twelve worksheets (one for each month)
- Name each one (January, February, etc) by double clicking on “sheet 1” or “sheet 6” and typing the name of the month
- Save your work
- Select your entire worksheet (don’t forget to include your auto sum cells)
- Right click and select copy
- Paste your work into each month
- Select the current month or last month and begin entering the money you have spent. You can use your bank statement or online statement.
- Save your work
This tool will help you keep track of where your money is actually going, so you can make a realistic budget.
