Hi everyone, I have been using a spreadsheet to track my spending for the last several years, In those years I have both rolled my own, and bought services to auto fill transactions, but keep running into the same issue.
After a while, I am just blindly filling out the spreadsheet, without really looking at it. I look at what I earned, and what I spent, but at the end of the day, I don’t really know what to do with this information. This got me wondering what information others find most useful in their budgeting tools?
We pay attention to whether or not we have a surplus, if we break even, or if we accidentally overspent.
If we have a surplus, it goes into a HYSA. If we break even, then that’s fine. If we accidentally overspent, we find out how and are careful for the next month.
I track my income vs. expenses, focusing on spending percentages to adjust habits and identify savings goals. Analytics help spot trends for better budgeting.
Cash in accounts at the end of the month is the only one I worry about. My spreadsheet columns are months and it goes out years, so below my bills and income are my account values. I can see if we overspend one month if it puts our buffer dangerously close to running out or if it’s ok.
I track if my budget exceeded more than 10% for groups of budget, not each category. Such as wants, needs, etc. category level budget is just a reference point.
I also care if my total expense exceeds total budget in the end of every month. That remind me I’m burning my savings.
I also use quarterly and year-to-date reports to track expenses that don’t occur on a monthly basis.
Luckily, the tool I use makes it very easy to see those numbers.