Any bookkeepers/accountants/money savvy mners about can help me with something?

[Graphista]

I'm normally good myself at keeping a handle on my money but with recent lifestyle changes I'm in a little bit of a muddle.

Not in terms of being skint but I get very anxious around this because of previously being skint!

So I like to be organised.

I have a spreadsheet that for last few years I use for my current account. But between the lifestyle changes and wanting to build/keep a good credit rating I'm now also using credit card (always paid off in full each month) and occasionally dipping into a savings account which is not for anything I'm really saving for just for using if necessary and to help me save where I can by not having the funds in my current account where it's physically easier to spend from (the savings account cannot be accessed except in person and by doing a transfer which there are several steps so it's not an instant thing which makes me consider doing so more - I hope that makes sense)

Where I'm stuck is keeping track of it all!

Is it better to have TOTAL amount on the main/usual spreadsheet or have separate spreadsheets and watch them all or have separate spreadsheets and link them somehow?

I've also only this year got a laptop to be able to DO spreadsheets properly I was previously doing on phone but this was super basic!!

And it's been a LONG time since I had a proper computer and I've forgotten loads of how to work things on technical side I'm relearning a lot!

So...those of you with multiple accounts how do you work it all?

I used to know this stuff I swear! I'm even getting in a muddle where I can't seem to cope with physical cash withdrawals from the current account or accounting for the cash in my purse within the spreadsheet.

Ironically I used to do this stuff as a job and my minds just gone blank!

I've tried googling and all I can find is super complicated stuff that's of no help at all I need a real idiots guide!

Can you guys help? I hope so

Could you have a different tab for your main account, savings and credit card? Then show the balance of savings and credit card on the main sheet. So when you pay off the credit card reduce the main account balance and credit card balance, or decrease main account increase savings etc. You could have a spending list on those two so you can look where you're dipping into savings/credit.

I have a column listing all outgoings, with the amount on, and total at the bottom then zero each one off as it leaves the account so I can easily see my balance vs bills for the month. You could add a line for cash and just reduce that as you draw cash out?

It took me a while to account for everything- birthdays, hairdresser, random crap I buy, but now I spend 5 minutes on payday totting up birthdays etc and putting a value on what they will cost and maybe a minute per week updating and I'm good to go for the month.

I have one spreadsheet top bit shows movement on Current account from start to end if month.

Sone items are income and spending and others are transfers -to savings or credit card paying off.

Then below I'd analyse credit card spending.

At bottom of page I'd then summarise all the accounts together to get income /spending /increase in savings.

Add as many accounts into column as wanted -ie use to analyse cash spending if a big chunk etc)

(I am an accountant in case not obvious) I even create a balance sheet of assets at end of each month!)

Personally I’d have a main spreadsheet with separate worksheets for the different accounts. Then link them to a main overview worksheet that automatically updates when any changes are made to any of the other work books. Are the accounts all at the same bank? I keep a track of everything on my online app.

DH does it in our house but this is the basic methodology.

Top line is income. Then beneath that we have lines for all expected expenditures, including the credit card and an allowance for unexpected/random expenses (eg I bought a new coat this month, not specifically in the budget but there is an amount for those types of one off expenses so it won’t break the spreadsheet).

Balance is the amount expected to be transferred into savings. And based on this we have projections as to how much we will have saved by various dates. We have a goal to retire by a certain age so if we go off target we would analyse expenses to see what we need to cut back on.

I think separate spreadsheets over engineers the whole thing. We have a minimal number of accounts (current account, one joint credit card, mortgage and pensions/investments held in one account). Having it on one spreadsheet makes it much easier to read and analyse.

@BoomChicka

Yea that's kinda what I'm thinking to do - maybe a sheet for each account and credit card and a sheet for everything?

I'm a bit confused by your 2nd paragraph though

At the moment I have a column per week - we'll actually 2 the left hand of each weeks set of 2 columns is what I THINK I'll spend/budget for and the right hand column is what ACTUALLY happens which I check against current account online I think this is what Americans call "balancing the check book" ? It's a weird way of doing things I know but I've done it for years and it's kept me straight but maybe no longer works - I know it's not how you're SUPPOSED to do accounts!

I do have a budget/SOA that I regularly review

It's weekly for me as I'm on legacy benefits so my income doesn't come in all at once and when money was VERY tight I needed to keep a close eye so dds didn't bounce!

Hb comes in one week, pip another, Esa twice a month

But maybe now things aren't so tight I need to move to a monthly plan?

@burnoutbabe I confuse the life out of most accountants the way I do it as it's soooo not the correct way!! But I'd kinda like to learn properly the correct way and do that.

But the proper way is 4 columns isn't it? Description, in, out, balance?

Which I find hard to get my head around as I like to have a sort of forecast 6 months ahead.

@NoLongerATeacher no it's not all one bank - I'm a bit of a prepper/panicker so I like to not all have my eggs in one basket in case of either local or global issues with one particular bank/underwriter?

So

My current account is hbos, as is my cash saver and ISA, Visa debit card

I also have another savings account with credit Union (in case I need their help - which I have In the past you have to be a regular saver with them)

Credit card is a MasterCard with capital one (they were the only people who would take me at the time. I've been debating lately applying for one with someone else not that cap one are bad just if I did have to pay the interest ever it's quite high) If I can I'd like to get one that benefits me in some way, either cash back or rewards I would use. I'm with mse credit club and I need to review my options.

I'd rather not explain the lifestyle changes here but happy to go into much more depth by pm if anyone is up for that? It might make things a bit clearer?

I have potential large expenses coming up over the next year that I'd like to plan for too which again I'd rather not discuss on the public forum if possible

Very much appreciate that people may not want to pm though that's totally ok.

I'll admit I'm also struggling with dd is at uni and mostly self funding/organised but she is on a very tight budget herself and is occasionally asking for help, which is absolutely fine on an emotional level more than happy to help! Just not sure how to organise it! Im debating setting aside a specific amount each month for if she needs help but tbh not telling her about it as I think she would simply treat that as additional income of hers and not keep as close an eye on her own spending (this has been a bone of contention in the past her not sticking to a budget she's better than she was but still messes up sometimes) it's a tricky thing to manage both in monetary and personal relationship terms. I don't want her relying on money from me as I'm at the whim of the govt and my health issues!

Mine is only 2 columns -column 1 is description (salary or clothes spending) and column 2 is say October 2021 (actually then column 3 is next month etc) and this has the amount in.

I could do a budgeted amount alongside and would probably compare that to a 12 month average of actuals (to smooth out months when I spend zero on clothes and another £200)

@NoLongerATeacher

Personally I’d have a main spreadsheet with separate worksheets for the different accounts. Then link them to a main overview worksheet that automatically updates when any changes are made to any of the other work books. Are the accounts all at the same bank? I keep a track of everything on my online app.

I'd do it like this. This is essentially how I run the cash flow spreadsheets at work as I can track each account but then also have a clear/quick summary to show the overall position.

The way I do it at the moment (prepare to be totally confused) is:

Current account only

Left hand column is descriptions.

1st BLOCK income

Housing benefit
Esa
Pip
Interest (less than £1 a month but I like to balance to the penny - I have ocd)
Refunds
Misc
Bbf - formula for this where it copies from the bcf result of previous weeks calculations

Total income - as described bbf included in the calculation

2nd BLOCK

Outgoings - direct debits - arranged according to date they come out

3rd BLOCK

Outgoings - irregular expenses

Things where it's either not the same amount every week (eg groceries) or maybe I don't even spend on every week (eg household purchases like new bedding)

Total expenses

Balance carried forward - formula for this

Then I have 6 months worth of weekly columns on the right with a column (well actually 2 as I said - 1 green predicted 1 red actual) per week and I can scan along the bcf bit to see how I'm doing.

I find doing it this way, if there's something I'm wondering if I can afford to buy/do I can put it into the spreadsheet on the week I'm planning to do it and if I spot a minus comes up on the Bcf's that means either I can't afford it at all or I can't afford it that week/month. I can play around with the spreadsheet to see when I can afford it inc sometimes cutting back on other expenditure

Does that make ANY sense to you guys at all?!!

@burnoutbabe yea I think that's how we're supposed to do it, and the income is in positive figures and out in negatives and a total at the end

Maybe my forecast idea should be on a separate sheet? Almost as a "rough workings" category?

@NoLongerATeacher and @AndrewPeacock

May I ask how your layout looks?

What's in column a and b etc and what's in the rows and where the formulae are?

Have you got the sheets linked to each other and if so how?

Cos I can work out how to do a formula that takes eg a result from a cell in one part of a sheet and use it for another but how do you link across sheets? Or is it doing it manually?

@burnoutbabe

I even create a balance sheet of assets at end of each month!)

I'd love to know more about this

I think having everything on one sheet will be easier - for doing formulas too

But I'm gonna have a separate sheet for long term forecast/trying something to see if i can afford it

I'm also confused as I'm going through receipts and sometimes the amounts I've been charged by the credit card company aren't matching the receipts - most of the time they've charged me less so I really shouldn't be complaining but it doesn't make sense!

Well the balance sheet is the total of all my accounts plus savings.

Ie total if current account at end of month and savings at end of month.

My net worth would also be equal to last months net worth plus my income less my outgoings.

Ok do you have that at the bottom of everything? I'm wondering if I might prefer it at the top

It's also about doing it in such a way as I'm not afraid to spend money but also not getting myself into strife - I think it's the psychological aspect I'm struggling with

After decades of living on a shoestring I have a LITTLE more leeway now and I want to enjoy that without making a mess of things. Can you guys understand what I mean?

My spreadsheet is in a cash forecast format.

Income
Less Expenses/ outgoings
Savings tfr
Balance
-- columns are months and values
I spend all by C/C so don't have any issues with cash coming out, the monthly DD in full for this is under expenses.

I do this for each bank account all on the same page and total at the bottom so I have at a glance the forecast account balances going forward for x months. Its really easy to update when the gas bill etc. changes.

My financial month starts at my pay day and I have all monthly DDs out a week later, any left over is swept into savings except for a float of £50 for emergency cash to take out which is hardly ever used.

@Agadorsparticus I think that's kinda how my brain works

Question - how do you account for cash transactions/balance?

As in it comes out of the bank account that parts simple enough, you use it to pay for something (in my case mostly taxis in fact I think that's the only thing I use cash for these days) but how/where/do you even bother including the change in your purse?

I'm sure when I used cash more I had a way of doing this but for the life of me I cannot remember how I worked it

My financial month starts at my pay day and I have all monthly DDs out a week later, any left over is swept into savings except for a float of £50 for emergency cash to take out which is hardly ever use

I think this is where I struggle. Because my income is in dribs and drabs I've also had to set up direct debits to be spread across the month (the ones I could change the dates on, can't do it with all of them - that's another thing even the ones with set dates aren't all 1st/30th of the month) in order to ensure they never bounced.

I'm not in that position any more now so maybe it's a case of me changing my mindset/way of organising?

To that end I'm going to have both weekly and monthly ones for a while and see if I think I could manage it the monthly way.

I have it all on one sheet . Top part is the current account.. money in , then below it money coming out.
Below that is credit cards and the balance on them feeds into the current account the next month
I list all my direct debits at the top of the current account and colour code them. It means I copy them from month to month which saves time, and also I can see straight away how much money I have committed in advance

It's making it hard for me to see if I have "leftovers" to put in the savings which would be good if I could do that.

I just record cash as spending that I don't analyse. I know £50 is for cleaner so the rest must just be for drinks? But I hardly use cash now anyway.

@wizzler

I have it all on one sheet . Top part is the current account.. money in , then below it money coming out. Below that is credit cards and the balance on them feeds into the current account the next month I list all my direct debits at the top of the current account and colour code them. It means I copy them from month to month which saves time, and also I can see straight away how much money I have committed in advance

Yes I just drag my regular costs across and know it's just my variable ones that vary and I need to update. Though sometimes a monthly cost hits twice in a month so have to watch out for those but it evens out over the year.

If I used cash I would budget for example £50pm cash allowance under expenses and reduce it every time I took £10 or £20 out.
It is more difficult if you have differing sums of income throughout the month.

It is more difficult if you have differing sums of income throughout the month.

Thank you for understanding that

I'm being advised to avoid being moved to uc for as long as possible as even though INITIALLY there is a transfer protection policy, as soon as there's a change in circs I'll be on normal calculations and my income could well go down significantly

Mine is probably more complicated than it needs to be, but I have different accounts for different purposes, so it works for me. "My" accounts each have their own worksheets in one workbook, and then there's a separate one, also with worksheets, for "household" purposes.

The main household one is set up so that I can input all the money coming in, and what's due to be going out, and I'll be able to see if there's not going to be enough cash at any point.

I love a good spreadsheet though 😃