![]() ![]() On the 2016 sheet, there’s a column for each month. Here’s a breakdown of some of these features. It uses calculations of course, but also some conditional formatting, graphs, and sparklines to help see trends at a glance. The doc itself is relatively simple as far as these things go. After that, it becomes a lot easier to work with the data. On the 5th of the month, I’ll make sure all transactions (paychecks and expenses) from the previous month are in Mint and categorized. These are the categories I use in my Quarterly Investment (and Spending) Reports. Be OK tweaking them as you learn about your spending habits. Being able to see at a glance how much I would save in that situation is important for decision making.Ĭreate categories in Mint that work for you. If I moved out of my house and into an apartment, I’d probably be able to get rid of some of these expenses. For example, everything related to living in my home is in the Home category. I prefer to categorize these areas by a small number of high-level areas based on intent, with sub-items for individual expenses. Based on your situation these could be completely different. Mint’s categorization is a good start, but it’s only a starting point. On the 5th of each month, I’ll add these transactions manually to Mint, categorize them, and see the results. On the rare occasion when I spend cash, I’ll add a todo list item for the 5th of the next month with the details of the transaction, and put it in my “Ledger” project. To get around this, I rely on my handy todo list application - Todoist. Mint isn’t going to track cash transactions unless you manually add them in. I’ve used a bunch of todo lists over the years, but I’ve never felt more productive than in the time I’ve used Todoist. It was an important step to try and helped me understand where I was spending, but there are easier ways to do this using a combination of tools including Google Spreadsheets, Todoist and Mint. The trouble is that this takes up a LOT of time, and was directly against the minimalist in me who wanted to make this process easier. This has some advantages - I was holding myself accountable for every dime I spent. I fully categorized these expenses and forecasted spending on a yearly level. If you’ve never manually tracked your expenses, I’d encourage you to try it for a month.įor a while, I manually tracked every single expense in a Google Spreadsheet. The rest of this post is a breakdown of how to use this sheet in a way that only takes 30 minutes a month to upkeep by leveraging some amazing tools like Mint, Todoist and Google Spreadsheets. Google Sheet 30 minutes a month is all it takes! Values have been changed from my actual spending, but categories are the same. Here’s the Google Sheet I use for my forecasting. Here’s my attempt at yearly budgeting with these tools. ![]() I prefer to think about things on a yearly level, rather than a monthly level, which has conflicted with most common forecasting tools. I’ve tried a number of strategies for tracking and planning these, and have finally stumbled on one I love using Mint, Todoist and Google Sheets. With it, I can plan out how much I should save, understand how much money I actually need to live, and how much of my spending is on luxuries. I’m hesitant to say the word “budget”, but understanding where I spend money is important. ![]()
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