by Celesmeh
Hey guys! last year I made a spreadsheet to help myself budget- I’m terrible at sticking to a budget so I made a sheet that breaks it down so that I just have the ability to break it down to a daily manageable amount.
I grew up very poor and had NO sense of what or even HOW to start budgeting. I was taught that money would disappear if I didn’t use it, so I just USED it. Even now I still feel anxiety about money and can spend recklessly if I’m not careful. Another problem I faced is that I have ADHD, so impulse control can be hard, and it can also be hard to keep track of every purchase and focus on a bunch of aspects of a budget. This spreadsheet is made so you only focus on ONE number.
The sheet was set up with three goals in mind:
- that it be easy to use
- that it focuses on a daily budget that supports long term goals- instead of a long term budget that doesn’t have daily support
- that it be a good starting place for people who have never saved before
So how does it work?
The main budget is divided into three core areas:
- Income: You use this to fill in your income and choose to have a monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly pay cycle. If you are a worker who is tipped it includes an area where you can add tips, my suggestion is put in your minimum average income from tips- So for example, if you usually make 100 from tips a week, even if you get extra, try to program your budget around the 100 minimum average.
- Expenses: There you can add your expenses. Utilities are bills that are for electricity, heat, phone, internet, or water. Bills are important expenses that you can’t miss and are integral to living. Finally, expenses are other things you need to allocate money for- whether it be gas, lunch expenses, transportation- ect. Within your expenses there are TWO areas to which you need to pay attention:-Credit Card Payments: this is new to this year’s sheet, use the tab below to fill out your information for up to three credit cards. Decide whether to pay the minimum payment OR choose an amount to pay. The tab will allow you to see how much you’re paying and how much interest you’re accruing. Once you have filled it out, your budget will adjust accordingly.-Big Purchase: Use this tab to create a budget for a large purchase, and adjust your budget easily and automatically to finance this purchase!
- Budget summary: Finally the most important part of this sheet is the budget summary- Here you will see just how much you can spend. This money is shown in three ways, the lump monthly sum, a weekly amount, or a daily amount. As long as you don’t go over that number, you will have enough money for the rest of your budget. It will also feature a breakdown of what your budget it, where your money is going, and what your income VS spending is!
ou use it like this
- Go in
- Make a copy
- Change the numbers
- Decide what percentage of your income you want to be saved
- Budget.
The sheet includes three charts:
- A bar graph as a simple visual tool to see if you are spending more than you are saving
- A pie chart to see where your money is distributed
- A daily Pie chart to see realistically where your money is going compared to your target savings
I don’t work well with a lot of budgets because I have issues imagining the big picture. By giving myself a daily/weekly/monthly budget I can make sure that on any given day I haven’t spent more than I’m allowed to- and if I do i can see where I’m borrowing from or where that money is supposed to come from.
NOTE: All Images in the spreadsheet are from vecteezy
EDIT:
NEW COPY LINK