Trying to build a better budget spreadsheet

[AlexG2490]

My apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I ran into some financial trouble today so I've been scouring the internet for tools to help me make sure it won't happen again. I've tried to get my budget in check before but what started as a simple list has become an Excel project spanning multiple sheets and with complex formulas, etc. And don't even get me started on trying to unify that data with what's coming off of Mint.com...

I made my own budget spreadsheet detailing the number of times I get paid in a month and all my expenses in any given month through the year. It was working pretty well for a while... monthly, quarterly, and yearly expenses were all laid out according to the month they would come due, I'd regularly update the amount in my checking and savings accounts as well as how many paychecks were still left in the month, and the spreadsheet calculated how much would be left over at the end of the year. There are even fields in each month's column for outstanding checks so that they don't sneak up on me. Charges are listed as still to be paid until they clear the bank. I'm trying to make sure I keep track of all the variables but as it turns out, there are a lot of them.

So far so good, but as my needs are changing I find I also need a more robust tool. My current worksheet only tracks what the status will be at the end of the month. But what about those months where I will have a positive balance at the end of the month... but not enough to pay my student loan by the 19th of the month when it is due? Or the months where my first paycheck of the month doesn't come in until after my car payment is due on the 5th?

I need a spreadsheet that knows not only how much I will get paid and how much I will spend, but when I get paid and what bills are due on any particular day, so that if at any point in the month my balance in checking is expected to drop below $0, I'm alerted and can try to do damage control. Does anyone know of or use such a sheet?

[Ramose]

Couldn't you just be more frugal so you can build some savings and never go below $0 again?

[Wino]

Alex,

I do tons of spreadsheets. There is a site called "chandoo.org" that has a forum where some real Excel experts can help you (they're called "ninjas" on the site). I saw your post, and think you can do this with a simple formula where you check some given due date against "today()" or maybe "today()+7" to find out if something is due next week.

Anyway, if you send me your spreadsheet and some more specific requirements, I could probably help you. PM me, and I'll give you my email address, and we can get the file to you. I suggest you remove any personally-identification information and fudge the figures, but otherwise leave the spreadsheet intact.

[Jwilliamson22]

I love budgets, and I love spreadsheets, but how I get around this problem is two things. First, I have a small cushion in my checking account incase something unexpected happens, and secondly I use a rewards CC for nearly every purchase. The CC gives me liquidity and float time which creates no need to wonder when I'm going to get paid during the month as long as it happens

[skydivingchic]

It is not an immediate solution, but ultimately the best solution is to stop living paycheck to paycheck and start funding everything a month in advance. Then it will no longer matter what day your bills are due. It will take some time to save up this money, but it will smooth out your cashflow tremendously and make your life much, much easier. So paychecks you get in October should sit untouched in your account until November 1, when you have enough money to cover ALL of November's expenses. Took me ~4 months to build up enough of a buffer to do this (and this money is seperate from my emergency fund), but it was well worth the time and effort. It also gives you time to deal with any little emergencies that might pop up - if your paycheck doesn't get deposited on time, if you have a small, unexpected bill, etc. You now have time to deal with this stuff instead of going into emergency mode.

[phantom]

It sounds like you're looking for more of a cash flow management tool than a budgeting tool. A budget tool is useful for figuring out your overall plan and making sure you spend less than you bring in every month. If you can maintain a healthy buffer in your checking account or if you only get paid once a month, you should be able to get away with just a budgeting tool. But, if you're having trouble building up a buffer or if you just like to know how much money you can expect to have in your account at any point in time (like me), you'll want a cash flow tool. My husband and I are both money geeks, so we each have our own ways of tracking our cash flow. Yes, it's overkill for us both to be doing this, but it at least gives me two different options to tell you about.

My husband has a spreadsheet that sounds a lot like the sort of thing you're looking for. Each month is a different sheet, and every day of the month has its own row. He has a column for increases and a column for decreases and a running balance that is calculated automatically off of the other two. He started out with a base month with paychecks and typical expenses in it and then copied it. Each sheet has a formula to copy the balance from the end of the month before over. He can easily look through the running balance for a month and see his low point and look for drops bellow zero. He tends to set up about a year at a time, copying the previous months. He also has an overview page he can use to pull aggregate information for across all the months.

I prefer using GnuCash. It's a powerful, free tool that can work well as an electronic checkbook. It handles reoccurring entries well, and it also makes it easy to look ahead and spot low points. The drawback to GnuCash is that it's so flexible that it can be hard to know the best way to get it set up for your needs at first. It also forces you to use double entry accounting, which isn't really that hard of a concept, but it is not something that most people tend to know.