Personal budget tracking spreadsheet?

Zascar

For the first time I'm trying to keep a very close eye on where I spend my money - and hopefully track it over time. I'm wondering if anyone else does this and how exactly they split things up? Or if there are any good templates online etc?

So far I have one column for bills, recurring expenses, and large purchases. The other is all the day to day stuff - but I've split that between food, booze & Entertainment - and other miscellaneous.

Has anyone got any tips on how best to track this?
Thanks

Mort5000

Depends on how detailed you want to go.

I have an annual spreadsheet, with once a year expenses. This is totaled and divided by 12 to get how much I must put away each month to cover annual expenses. That spreadsheet is reviewed from time to time as annual expenses change (LPT!!!).

I have a monthly spreadsheet with all the monthly expenses. Each month it is 'reset' and I then go through updating items from 'outstanding' to 'paid' so that I can see what is actually still outstanding and what is left in my bank account after all DDs.

Lastly a daily spreadsheet. This is a lot of effort, but will reveal some interesting info after you've been gathering info for a few months.
It has columns for: 'date', 'amount', 'category' (food/entertainment/travel/gifts).
This spreadsheet (ideally) is filled in once a day, reflecting bank balance, wallet balance, and any transactions for the day.
An alternative to that, is to export your current account transactions once an month and sort them out. You won't know where all your cash withdrawals are going, but you'd get a much better idea of spending month to month.

homer911

You could try using a SFS from any of the banks' websites

Poochie05

Someone on here posted one a few months ago, I'll see if I can find the link...

creep

No point doing out one for the first month of trying to save. Keep note of every cent of what you spent and where you spent it for the month. Try this while keeping a close eye on your money and trying to save money. Then make out a budget for the next month.

I even note down if I buy a bottle of coke or a mars bar.

greentea is just wrong

Here's a template that could get you started.

http://moneysavinginspiration.com/ways-to-save-money-at-home/household-budget-planning.html

oldyouth

I use the one from Zurich

Liam D Ferguson

Consumerhelp.ie have a few here.

broker2008

If you are overspending and looking to save a few bob. For the first month try writing every single cent spent. At the end of the month, one or 2 things will jump off the page eg the cappuccino every other day, the 5 lunches per week along with the can of diet coke. Also write down shopping lists in advance of shopping to prevent impulse buys. Good luck

hades

I set up one of these summer 12 months ago. It was a pain to nail down, but it's working like a treat now.

Since I have a joint account with my wife, we use that as a feeder account, this then pays money into a few other accounts and pays all the bills. We worked out how much is needed to live week to week and that's transferred every Thursday. We also have separate accounts set up for child care expenses, savings, rainy day fund.

I then did up a yearly excel sheet with a column for every week. I put down when our wages are due in, and when expenses are due out. And roll it over from week to week. It's a bit of a task tracking down the dates for direct debits for the mobiles, sky, esb, landline, health insurance etc.... But once it's set up it's very easy to manage. Once a payment goes out from the main account I colour it red knowing that it has been paid.

Having a separate week to week account that tops up every Thursday has been a god send for keeping our finances in check, and the odd time that you have a surplus in the account at the end of the week you can get yourself a treat