Browsing Tag

finances

Budgeting

Take the Anxiety Out of Domestic Finances with Microsoft Excel

use Microsoft Excel to keep track of your household budgetLooking after domestic finances can cause much anxiety. Often you are anxious because you find it difficult to keep track of your finances and so do not feel you are in control. Using Microsoft Excel to record, monitor and control your domestic finances can go a long way to removing this anxiety. Some effort is required at the beginning to set up the systems but this is soon rewarded by providing you with a great time and labour saving device, which can also help you save money and stay in control of your finances. If you require Excel training in denver, or any other location, you can find some excellent resources online to get you started.

Home Maintenance

It can be very difficult to keep track of the maintenance requirements in the home, who can remember exactly when the boiler was last serviced for example. Microsoft Excel has the facilities to allow you to produce a home maintenance schedule to make keeping track of maintenance issues much easier. Each item that requires inspection can be listed, together with a schedule of how often they require checking. Simple functions are available in Excel to allow items that are overdue to be flagged for attention, for example by changing the colour to red if the inspection date has been missed. It is also very simple to add notes recording what the issues where the last time the item was inspected. The cost of any work done can also be recorded, which will help to highlight when it would be more economic to replace items rather than continue to repair them.

Household Budget

Keeping track of the household finances can be a daunting task. As well as the basic calculation functions, Microsoft Excel contains simple formulas, which will automatically update the results of your calculations when values change. Revising a value once the total has been calculated is simple, just make the change and Excel updates the total for you. There are also simple functions to allow you to add values, calculate averages and find the smallest or largest values in a range of values. You can use these functions to develop spreadsheets to keep track of all your incoming and outgoing payments, putting in predicted values of bills for budgeting purposes that can then be easily updated when the actual bill arrives. This allows you to keep track of your balance and helps you identify when there is likely to be a shortfall, giving you time to put measures in place to prevent charges being incurred.

Tax Returns

Filling in your tax return can be a long and drawn out business. Even if you send your return off to be completed by someone else you can make things significantly easier by keeping track of expenses during the year. Having a household budget spreadsheet at your fingertips makes it much simpler to record expenses and document the corresponding receipts, which you need to have to hand at tax return time.

Home Improvements

You can also use Microsoft Excel to help in planning and monitoring any home improvements. The first, and ultimately most important point to consider when starting such a venture is how much it is going to cost you. An Excel spreadsheet is a great tool for tracking expenses. You can use the spreadsheet to help you plan the works, develop a preliminary budget, record your actual expenses and compare them to each other. In this way if things are starting to go over budget you should be able to spot it early and use the spreadsheet to review your options to get it back on track.

The above points illustrate just a few of the many ways in which Microsoft Excel can be used to simplify many domestic finance tasks. By applying some or all of these measures you should feel more in control of the situation. You should also be able to save both time and money in completing your household duties, leaving you more time and money for the more enjoyable things in life!

About the Author

Author is a trainer with a Microsoft Office Training company, the UK industry leader in its sector. For more information on Microsoft Office Training, please visit stl it courses.

October 14, 2009
Budgeting

Personal Financial Management- Basics That Can Help You

Today more than ever, it is important to learn the basics of personal financial management. With the costs of nearly everything rising, it is crucial to learn how to set and stick to a budget, pay off debts, and save for the future. There are many small things you can do that will contribute greatly to helping you with your own personal financial management.

The easiest way to do this is by learning how to make the most out of the money you earn. Earning more money will not help you in the end, because you will only end up spending more if you do not learn an effective way to handle your personal financial management. You must learn the difference between what you want and what you need, and how to prioritize them both. It takes self control to live within your means, and to know when you can afford something, and to walk away from it if you cannot. But that is what it takes to make the most of your income.

Your budget should include money set aside for emergencies, expected purchases, living expenses, and bills. Setting a small amount out of each paycheck aside for unexpected emergencies, such as illness or car repairs, will save you from having to possibly pay interest on a loan to take care of your problem. Taking it out of your check allows you to prepare ahead of time, and keeps you from having to come up with a lump sum of money all at once, hopefully, preventing you from incurring more debt.

If you know you need to make a large purchase in the near future, such as a new washing machine, or a new computer, plan ahead, and set aside money for that item from each check as well. Once you have saved enough money, shop around for the best deal. Try to never make a large purchase unless you can do it with cash, to avoid paying high interest and fees.

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September 24, 2009
Gifts

Use Your Money To Make A Difference

be a good steward - use your money to make a differenceI have been thinking recently about what we can do to be good stewards of our money.  Of course we need to use our money to cover our basic living expenses, but what can we do with the rest of it?  How can we make the most of what we have to help others and make sure that we are giving back?

I think two things are involved.  First, it’s important that we manage our money responsibly.  By living within our means and budgeting, we can ensure that we don’t go deep into debt.

Second, if we discipline ourselves and spend our money wisely, imagine how much good we can do in our world by contributing to organizations and causes we are passionate about!  And, as a result of giving, we will feel so great, knowing that we have helped to make a difference.

It’s important to note that it’s not about the amount you give but the attitude in which you give it that really matters.  Not everyone can afford to give a lot or invest a lot due to tight financial circumstances, but that doesn’t mean they can’t give anything.

Although it would be great to be rich and be able to donate millions to various charities, etc., sometimes I need to remind myself that I don’t have to be “wealthy” to make a difference.  We can all be good stewards of our money and if we all focus on good stewardship, our world will be a better place for everyone.  My goal for the next few weeks is to look for meaningful ways that I can give back.

September 18, 2009
Budgeting

Emergency Fund – How Much Is Enough?

Most people are familiar with Suze Orman’s advice about saving up 8 months worth of living expenses as an emergency fund.  It seems like an awful lot of money, but I can definitely see her point.  Especially in this troubled economy when it’s possible to lose your job and it’s better to have a cushion of money to keep you going while you are looking for another one.  But, when the economy is at its best, do we really need 8 months worth? And if not, how much is enough?

I think it should be a personal choice.  You know what you can comfortably live on.  (If you don’t I would recommend making a budget so you can track how much you spend.) It definitely is a good idea to have some cash on hand in the event of a roof leak or an emergency root canal procedure.  But if an amazing investment opportunity comes your way that is too good to pass up, you may decide to forfeit part of your emergency fund.  That’s okay, as long as you have something else to rely on such as a low interest credit line.  You always want to make sure that you have something to fall back on that won’t charge high interest rates (i.e. you don’t want to have to rely on credit cards.)

If you are unsure about how much you should be saving, you might want to ask yourself this question:  If the worst possible scenario happened to me right this minute, how much money would I need to keep my family going?  No one can really tell you the perfect amount to have saved up for a rainy day.  The point is that it’s important to always have some tucked away.

August 13, 2009
General

Who Cares What The Joneses Have? Not Me.

It can be really tempting to want to have as much or more than our neighbors, colleagues, friends, family members, etc.  It’s like we want to prove a point – that we are successful and important.   What most of us don’t realize is that we will be a lot more content and enjoy our lives a lot more if we are satisfied with what we already have.  “Keeping up with the Joneses” is an unhealthy lifestyle choice that can cause serious debt problems among other things.

Instead of focusing on what others have and trying to attain those things, why not be thankful for what you’ve got?  You will be more likely to save for things that are important to you rather than wasting your money to keep up appearances.  Half the time we don’t really want the things we buy anyway – we just don’t realize it until it’s too late to return them.

It’s not that we shouldn’t buy anything – there’s certainly nothing wrong with having things.  The main thing is the motivation for buying things should be because they will be good for you, not just because someone else has them.

My goal is to be willing to make small sacrifices now so that I can achieve future goals.  For instance, my husband and I try to take a 2 week vacation every year. We forfeit eating frequent restaurant meals and other expensive forms of entertainment so we can save enough to take an enjoyable vacation.  Rather than worrying that our neighbor recently landscaped their yard and feeling like we have to keep up with them or rather than being concerned that we are not going out all that often compared to other people our age, we are content because we know that we will soon be able to take a vacation and that we won’t have to borrow money to do it.

Not caring about what the Joneses have is very freeing, and it’s a lot easier on the pocket book.  In the long run a lot of people who live expensively are often in debt up to their eyebrows, and I would much prefer to live more simply and work my way towards becoming debt free and ultimately financially free.  I know this goal will take a lot of discipline but I am up for the challenge because I know it’s worth it.

August 7, 2009