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Hello!
I am an accounting clerk and I really enjoy (for some reason) to work on my personal budget and keep track of my expenses. I've tried several budgeting apps but none seemed to be as flexible as I would have liked them so I created my own in excel.
I would consider myself an intermediate excel user and advanced at making budgets. I have income and personal expenses by category recorded from January 2013 to now. Using these numbers I've made categories such as: average per month for 2013, average per month for 2014 and average per month for the last 12 months. I use average per month for the last 12 months as my reference for most things because I feel like it will be most accurate...
NOW. Here is my question... With recent tough times my bills have been hard to keep in order. Since I'm always trying to improve my personal budget I've created a table to keep track of my bills (total due, due date and actual payment date.) I have a "payment" column and an "outstanding" column. Once a bill or fixed expense is paid it gets removed from "outstanding" and I don't have it as a projected expense for the remaining of the month. My variable expenses (groceries, gas, interest, takeout) have been a little tougher to calculate for the remaining of the month... Here is what I am trying to choose between:
1. I base variable expenses on days left in the month. Basically I use the =TODAY() function and compare it to the last day of the month to get a percentage of the month remaining and multiply by average expense for the last 12 months. This won't change as I spend throughout the month it will change day to day as I get closer to the last day until all expenses will reach $0.
OR
2. I base variable expenses based on what I've already spent in the month. Basically, I take average for the last 12 months and subtract what I've already spent to date that month. This won't change as I get closer to the end of the month it will change as I spend.
I've tried both and both are giving me very different results. I can't decide which is more accurate. I'm leaning towards option 2 because at the end of the month it will tell me where I've spend more or less compared to my average. Is there a third option I am not considering?
EDIT: Feel free to ask me questions about my budget or advice on creating your own. I really like excel for the flexibility!
One thing I meant to mention is that I've moved and my expenses have changed a lot (less rent, more gas, less takeout because I can't be bothered to go into town for food, etc.)
I am an accounting clerk and I really enjoy (for some reason) to work on my personal budget and keep track of my expenses. I've tried several budgeting apps but none seemed to be as flexible as I would have liked them so I created my own in excel.
I would consider myself an intermediate excel user and advanced at making budgets. I have income and personal expenses by category recorded from January 2013 to now. Using these numbers I've made categories such as: average per month for 2013, average per month for 2014 and average per month for the last 12 months. I use average per month for the last 12 months as my reference for most things because I feel like it will be most accurate...
NOW. Here is my question... With recent tough times my bills have been hard to keep in order. Since I'm always trying to improve my personal budget I've created a table to keep track of my bills (total due, due date and actual payment date.) I have a "payment" column and an "outstanding" column. Once a bill or fixed expense is paid it gets removed from "outstanding" and I don't have it as a projected expense for the remaining of the month. My variable expenses (groceries, gas, interest, takeout) have been a little tougher to calculate for the remaining of the month... Here is what I am trying to choose between:
1. I base variable expenses on days left in the month. Basically I use the =TODAY() function and compare it to the last day of the month to get a percentage of the month remaining and multiply by average expense for the last 12 months. This won't change as I spend throughout the month it will change day to day as I get closer to the last day until all expenses will reach $0.
OR
2. I base variable expenses based on what I've already spent in the month. Basically, I take average for the last 12 months and subtract what I've already spent to date that month. This won't change as I get closer to the end of the month it will change as I spend.
I've tried both and both are giving me very different results. I can't decide which is more accurate. I'm leaning towards option 2 because at the end of the month it will tell me where I've spend more or less compared to my average. Is there a third option I am not considering?
EDIT: Feel free to ask me questions about my budget or advice on creating your own. I really like excel for the flexibility!
One thing I meant to mention is that I've moved and my expenses have changed a lot (less rent, more gas, less takeout because I can't be bothered to go into town for food, etc.)