I created this spreadsheet to improve my financial organization, build a financial plan, and track where my money was going. My goal was to keep it simple and user-friendly, with each financial transaction entered on a single line, automatically updating all related sheets.
Balance & Tracking Sheet
This Personal Budget is composed of six different sheets, each addressing a key financial area:
- Data Validation – Sets category names and account information.
- Balance & Tracking – Records all financial operations.
- Net Salary – Tracks income, deductions, and investments by month.
- Expenses – Logs categorized expenses by month.
- Dashboard – Displays relevant annual financial insights.
- Analysis – Provides insights based on transaction descriptions.
To download and edit the spreadsheet:
- Click on one of its versions (e.g.,
'Personal Budget - English.xlsx'). - Select 'View raw'.
- Once downloaded, open the file and click 'Enable Editing'.
This spreadsheet is designed to help you easily track your income and expenses.
- Open the file and navigate to the Data Validation sheet.
- Set the initial balance for each account and customize category names to match your spending habits.
⚠️ Important: Once categories and balances are set, avoid changing them to prevent calculation errors.
Go to the Balance & Tracking sheet. This sheet includes tables and a graph that automatically update based on your entries in the Tracking table.
- In cell B2, the month updates automatically based on the date entered in cell C7.
- The summary below displays:
- Balance – Income minus expenses, plus any carry-over from the previous month.
- Monthly expenses
- Net salary – Can be toggled via cell B4.
- A visual overview of your expenses and net salary for the selected month.
- Toggle between views using cell B4.
- View a summary of your accounts, including Bank, Savings, Debt, and Credit Card.
- Use cell C7 to select a date and view past or future account balances. If left blank, it defaults to today (
=TODAY()in Excel). - When logging a credit card purchase in the Tracking table, the corresponding credit card row changes color to indicate a payment is due.
- To record a payment, select 'Payment' as the operation and choose 'Credit Card' under 'Account'. The same applies to other liability accounts.
- The Account table is designed with four rows for positive balances (e.g., Bank, Savings) and two for liabilities (e.g., Credit Card).
- In the Data Validation sheet, you can customize each label (e.g., JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Amex, Visa, etc.).
- This is the core of the spreadsheet. Enter each financial operation by selecting a category and entering the amount.
- Transactions are sorted by date, not by the order in which they were entered.
- You can use the filters in the table header to display only the information you want to see.
- All other tables and graphs update automatically based on this table.
- 💡 Tip: Press the
Tabkey to move between fields and quickly create a new row at the bottom.
The date of an operation affects Accounts and Monthly Balance differently:
- Operations dated in the future affect only the Monthly Balance for the current month.
- Operations dated today or earlier affect both Accounts and Monthly Balance.
As a result:
- If the values of Accounts and Monthly Balance match, cell C3 turns green.
- If they differ, cell C3 turns orange to signal a mismatch.
You can create a financial plan by entering future-dated operations.
For example: salaries, bills, travel, and deductions you expect in the coming months.
This helps you make better decisions by forecasting your financial situation.
📌 For a better experience, adjust the zoom and press Ctrl + F1 to hide the ribbon and focus on the spreadsheet.