11 Simple Steps to Build a Monthly Budget Tracker with Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel stands out as an accessible tool for tracking basic expenses, provided you commit to a consistent input method. Notably, you can achieve a significant amount with minimal prior knowledge or experience in Excel. By establishing a simple template or framework, you can begin customizing it to extract the information you need.
How to Manually Create a Monthly Budget Tracker in Excel
Step 1: Set Up a New Workbook and Create a Sheet for Income and Expense Streams
Starting from scratch means it’s advantageous to compile a list of anticipated income and expenses. You can create this list either broadly or with more detailed categories.
Here’s a concise overview of potential categories you might include, which can be recorded in the first sheet titled “Categories.”
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Step 2: Add a New Sheet for the First Month
Select a new sheet within your workbook and rename it to reflect the specific month and year you wish to monitor.
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Step 3: Outline Your Categories
Develop two smaller tables to differentiate between income and expenses, listing the categories vertically underneath one another.
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At this stage, you have the option to either summarize your budget for each month in a simplified manner or create a more intricate table that accounts for daily or weekly expenses.
Step 4: Organize Expenses by Days or Weeks
A mixed approach can be adopted here. Tracking your spending on a weekly basis can ease the process, but certain necessary expenses may only occur monthly. Therefore, you might detail the “Food” category by specific weeks.
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Step 5: Apply Formulas for Weekly or Daily Totals
For every category tracking expenses weekly or daily, you should create a ‘Total’ cell that computes the sum of the respective row using the formula ” =SUM(Start_Cell:End_Cell)
.”
Here’s how to do this:
- Click on the cell designated for the total.
- Type the equals sign.
- Input “SUM” and hit “Tab.”
- Highlight the cells you wish to add together.
- Press “Enter.”
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You will need to carry out this process for each category; however, you can expedite it by using the Fill Handle in the bottom-right corner of the cell to drag down and apply the formula to the next row.
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Step 6: Insert Subtotals for Each Category
To streamline the process, add an additional row to each subcategory for listing its subtotal, which will contribute to the overall total.
To add a row, right-click the header below the targeted row and choose “Insert.” For example, to create a subtotal under “Salary,” right-click row 7 to insert a new entry there.
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This is a brief illustration of how the table should be formatted.
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Step 7: Compute the Subtotals
Utilize the same SUM formula used for the weekly food tally to derive subtotals for each category.
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Step 8: Compute the Total Monthly Figures
Develop a compact table that records all categories along with their respective subtotals. Reference each “Subtotal” directly—for instance, referencing income subtotal from cell C7 with ” =C7
.” This can be accomplished by selecting a cell, typing the equals sign, clicking on the desired cell, and then pressing “Enter.”
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Consider merging the category name cell to enhance visibility. You can find the “Merge” option within the “Alignment” section of the “Home” tab.
Step 9: Derive the Overall Monthly Total
Utilize the final SUM formula to determine the month’s total. This time, it’s essential to subtract total expenses from the income subtotal.
- Click on the “Monthly Total” cell (e.g., H7).
- Type in the equals sign.
- Click on the Income subtotal cell.
- Input the minus sign.
- Type “SUM,” then hit “Tab.”
- Select all relevant cells from your smaller table.
- Close the bracket with “)” and press “Enter.”
Below, you’ll see the formula that results from this process in cell H7.
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Step 10: Duplicate the Monthly Sheet for Additional Months
To duplicate a sheet, right-click its name in the lower tab and select “Move or Copy.”
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In the dialog box that appears, check the “Create a copy” option, then click “OK.”
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Rename the new sheet (right-click and choose “Rename”) and repeat these steps to generate as many monthly sheets as necessary.
Step 11: Begin Inputting Your Data
Your budget tracker is now complete, and you can start entering your data as desired.