Learning to use a speadsheet (e.g., Excel) to manage my budget

[gggg...@gmail.com]

I have been thinking of doing that.

Does anyone here already do that?

Am I hoping to use a hammer to swat a fly?

[The Real Bev]

Depends on what you want to do and how complex it is. Download
LibreOffice (free and very good) and play with the spreadsheet part.

My budget-management system is just spending as little as possible,
which seems to have been working well for over 50 years.

--
Cheers, Bev
If you are going to try cross-country skiing,
start with a small country.

[John Weiss]

I've been doing it for several years.

The hard part is to identify ALL income sources and expenditures. The
latter is harder, because we often don't admit we part with money for
some stuff...

I start with take-home pay, not gross pay. Payroll deductions for
IRA/401k and Social Security/Medicare never show up in the budget
because they are considered untouchable. Other payroll deductions for
Medical, Dental, etc are added back in, then itemized as expenses later
(so you can analyze if you need to change). Income tax is settled later
as income from a refund or an expense for underpayment.

As a starting point, try to rebuild the past year, month by month.
You'll need as many monthly statements as you can find. Then estimate
what you will need month-to-month this year.

Categories from my spreadsheet:

2018 Actual / 2019 Budget
INCOME
J SOCIAL SECURITY
Net Income

J [Org1]
Take Home
+Medical, Dental
Net Income

JOHN [Org2]
Net Income

F [Org 3]
Take Home
+RHPA
+Dental
Net Income

F SOCIAL SECURITY
Take Home

INTEREST (no CD reinvest)
CU1
CU2
Tax Refund

TOTAL NET INCOME

EXPENSES
UTILITIES
Alarm
Electric
Gas
Cell
Cable
Pest Control
Disposal
Water
Newspaper

INSURANCE
House & Misc
Car
Long Term Care
Medical
Dental
Vision
Life

MEDICAL
Copays
Dental
Vision

TAXES
Property
IRS Excess
Car Tags
Dog

HOUSE
Credit card other
Food & Drug
Wine
Costco
Home Depot, Lowes, etc
Restaurants
Clothes & Hair
Gas, Parking, & Tolls
Car Maint
Yard Maint
House Maint
Computer
Magazines & Orgs
Legal
Dog
Charity

TRAVEL
[Org 1]
[Org 2]
Family

[RJH]

On 02/01/2019 21:08, John Weiss wrote:
> On 1/1/2019 23:05, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
>> I have been thinking of doing that.
>>
>> Does anyone here already do that?
>>
>> Am I hoping to use a hammer to swat a fly?
>
> I've been doing it for several years.
>
> The hard part is to identify ALL income sources and expenditures. The
> latter is harder, because we often don't admit we part with money for
> some stuff...
>
> I start with take-home pay, not gross pay. Payroll deductions for
> IRA/401k and Social Security/Medicare never show up in the budget
> because they are considered untouchable. Other payroll deductions for
> Medical, Dental, etc are added back in, then itemized as expenses later
> (so you can analyze if you need to change). Income tax is settled later
> as income from a refund or an expense for underpayment.
>
> As a starting point, try to rebuild the past year, month by month.
> You'll need as many monthly statements as you can find. Then estimate
> what you will need month-to-month this year.
>

snip comprehensive categories

OOI, why don't you pay in to a sinking fund? This can cover
unpredictable expenses like broken appliances and uninsured elements of
health care.

If you don't spend it in any one time period you have a number of lovely
options - carry over (save), spend at once etc.

It's what I do, and I've been lucky enough not to have to use it for a
couple of years. Cue tempting fate :-)


--
Cheers, Rob

[John Weiss]

On 1/2/2019 14:45, RJH wrote:
>>
>>
>> I start with take-home pay, not gross pay.  Payroll deductions for
>> IRA/401k and Social Security/Medicare never show up in the budget
>> because they are considered untouchable.  Other payroll deductions for
>> Medical, Dental, etc are added back in, then itemized as expenses later
>> (so you can analyze if you need to change).  Income tax is settled later
>> as income from a refund or an expense for underpayment.
>>
>> As a starting point, try to rebuild the past year, month by month.
>> You'll need as many monthly statements as you can find.  Then estimate
>> what you will need month-to-month this year.

> OOI, why don't you pay in to a sinking fund? This can cover
> unpredictable expenses like broken appliances and uninsured elements of
> health care.
>
> If you don't spend it in any one time period you have a number of lovely
> options - carry over (save), spend at once etc.
>
> It's what I do, and I've been lucky enough not to have to use it for a
> couple of years. Cue tempting fate :-)

Each individual will have hir own needs. Thus, each individual will
have a unique budget/spreadsheet. My example was only a starting point
for anyone who otherwise wouldn't know where to start.

Another part of the budget that I did not tap was savings. I track
savings and investments separately. Younger folx may want to add
savings into the budget, especially in the years when they are building
their emergency fund. If saving for several discrete goals (e.g.,
vacation, college, house down payment...), budget for each separately.