• Primary focus of this template is daily spending: credit cards and checking. You can also track investments and special projects. You can make copies of the Transactions sheet, or you can add your own sheets in your own format. All sheets can be linked to the Net Worth and Budget sheets to give you the overall picture. This template is highly customizable.

• Budgeting is key to financial independence. Two most important concepts:
  • Monthly Expenses should never exceed Monthly Income.
  • Balanced budget means spending money on the right things for you. Don’t cut shopping or eating out down to zero. That’s not the point of budgeting. Rather set a reasonable limit for each category and follow through not to exceed it. Design your budget your way. Maybe you hate cooking – you need more money for eating out. Maybe you like day trips or just trips in general. Adjust your budget as your spending habits evolve and you develop a better understanding of where you spend.

• Budgeting needs consistent periods for comparison reasons. This template is built for monthly buckets. Not payday to payday. Majority of bills come once a month. Some bills could be bi-weekly and that’s OK. Even if your income is by-weekly – you still have 2 paychecks each month. Except for 2 months a year. Your monthly expenses should be covered by 2 paychecks not 3. Or if your income is irregular – still you have to rely on the minimum monthly income to pay your rent and other monthly expenses. Anyway if you are looking for payday to payday budget – this is not your template. This template uses monthly budget buckets.

• Matrix view allows you to see individual account balances for easy reconciliation with your online banking or your banking mobile app. You will also see the grand total – how much money you have, how much money you owe across all your credit accounts. All on one screen.

• One-click Filtering. Reducing clicking and typing became my passion. You can filter transactions by account, by budget, by vendor, by date, etc. – all with a single click on Cell Filter button. No need to type the filter word. Just select the cell with the value and push the button. You can also select any cell within the account columns to filter by account.

• Storing Excel files in Microsoft OneDrive local folder syncs the files to your private Microsoft Cloud. You can access the same Excel file from multiple laptops or mobile devices including iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet. Just download free Microsoft Excel app on your mobile device. You can edit the file while you are offline. It will automatically sync it to the cloud when you are connected again.
  Keeping your Excel files in the OneDrive cloud also creates a backup. Especially if you start building history – you want to protect your data from unexpected accidents.
  Additionally using Microsoft OneDrive enables Excel’s auto-save feature. It’s automatic. You don’t have to turn it on or anything. It just starts working for all Excel files stored in OneDrive.

• This is how Security works: Your financial data is stored in your own Excel file. You can store it in your private cloud. Or just store it locally. You can password protect it if you choose so. If you store it in OneDrive cloud – you can share it with your spouse or just access it from multiple home computers. But again unlike using an app – you control who has access to your financial data. This Excel file is not connected to your online banking / does not require your bank passwords.