[eggoa]

I've got something similar driven by a data entry sheet where I put transactions. The monthly columns populate by sumifs()'ing off of that sheet.

I just started my third calendar year of this system on January 1st. It's working out pretty well. I like it more than an off the shelf budget app because I can customize it however I want. I use to keep track of other things like the last time I vacuumed my apartment.

[wenc]

Nice. Yes, I handrolled my spreadsheet because I knew exactly how to create the tightest possible effective interface for my use patterns, but I know a lot of my friends struggle to do that so they buy financial software. To each their own I say. I will say the major advantage of spreadsheets is they let you easily run what-if scenarios and see the results update live, which really helps you to visualize if you can better afford a new car in July or October (same spend, different cash flow scenarios).

My inspiration is actually not from accounting or finance, but a simple mass balance equation:

In - Out = Accumulation

Just keep the accumulation positive every month (constraint), and maximize it at year end (objective function).

Also I don't track spend below a certain dollar value. I know people like transaction-level granularity (every chocolate bar, every cup of coffee), but me, I just set aside a monthly buffer for incidentals and forget about it.

Some financial journalists make a big deal of how much you can save by not buying that cup of $2.75 Starbucks coffee every morning, but at my income level it's a rounding error not worth sweating over -- I'd rather focus my time increasing my topline growth i.e. learn and grow into positions with more responsibilities.

(But I also get free coffee at work so there's that :)