I've been using a variation of the spreadsheet below for a number of years now to help me plan my finances and test certain scenarios (e.g. what will happen when the children are born etc)
The basic idea is that you put in all your income and expenses, and the frequency of the expense (Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Bi-Monthly, Annually). There are then columns which convert that expense to what it would be Weekly, Monthly etc. This is useful because if you are paid weekly, for example, but your mortgage is monthly, you know how much out of each paycheque you need to keep for the mortgage. Similarly, it is useful to know how much of each paycheque is alocated to the annual payments such as insurance so you can plan for them. I've filled out some samples to give you the idea. A few tips are available on the screen to help.
Over to the right is a summary screen that will tell you the overall position and whether there is any residue - i.e. are you earning more than your outgoings, or vice versa. Red is a bad sign - you are living beyond your means and need to cut back somewhere.
Beneath this there is a chart summarising the position in percentage terms. Note that it doesn't give meaningful results if you are in the red.
People who are posting in the Money Makeover section might find it useful to test their own finances before posting.
New Link (If there's any problems let me know.
It's an Excel file, but also works in Openoffice.
Important Note: I created this spreadsheet years ago, and have tested it with AVG anti-virus. However, I would strongly recommend that you subject it to whatever anti-virus/anti-spyware software that you feel appropriate, as I will not be held responsible for anything malicious that may be found in it. You are downloading at your own risk.
Enjoy
The basic idea is that you put in all your income and expenses, and the frequency of the expense (Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Bi-Monthly, Annually). There are then columns which convert that expense to what it would be Weekly, Monthly etc. This is useful because if you are paid weekly, for example, but your mortgage is monthly, you know how much out of each paycheque you need to keep for the mortgage. Similarly, it is useful to know how much of each paycheque is alocated to the annual payments such as insurance so you can plan for them. I've filled out some samples to give you the idea. A few tips are available on the screen to help.
Over to the right is a summary screen that will tell you the overall position and whether there is any residue - i.e. are you earning more than your outgoings, or vice versa. Red is a bad sign - you are living beyond your means and need to cut back somewhere.
Beneath this there is a chart summarising the position in percentage terms. Note that it doesn't give meaningful results if you are in the red.
People who are posting in the Money Makeover section might find it useful to test their own finances before posting.
New Link (If there's any problems let me know.
It's an Excel file, but also works in Openoffice.
Important Note: I created this spreadsheet years ago, and have tested it with AVG anti-virus. However, I would strongly recommend that you subject it to whatever anti-virus/anti-spyware software that you feel appropriate, as I will not be held responsible for anything malicious that may be found in it. You are downloading at your own risk.
Enjoy
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