To ask for examples of how you use MS Excel in home / daily life?

[Lemonsqueasy]

I'm fond of lists and nice ways of presenting info so feel like there's lots I could get out of Excel - I'm sure there are super organised MNers who could give some inspiration.

I'm definitely not super organised but I use Excel for our monthly household budget.

My uncle keeps a spreadsheet stock list of what's in his freezer. Each entry has an exact count of the item (i.e pack of sausages - 4 remaining) and is also colour coded (green= plenty left, orange = running low, red = run out). Is that the kind of thing you meant?

I've got the summer holiday logistics on a spreadsheet. I have a family member who keeps track of wine stocks in the cellar using a spreadsheet.

Childcare spreadsheet for booking into wrap around care and working out how much it's costing me
I also have a finance type spread sheet where I record what's coming and and the big stuff going out

Household budget
Christmas presents lists and best prices I’ve seen
Big financial outlay planning and budget ie kitchen renovation
Outfit planning/wardrobe audit

I have a few spreadsheets, that are generally a hopeless mess, but I like the fact that I can arrange things in order.

But admittedly I am a chronic procrastinator and I spend too much time making lists of things to do that I will never accomplish. I was that student that made a very elaborate revision timetable, immediately fell behind, and then of course the next thing to do is redo the revision timetable.

But I have spreadsheets for budgeting, meal planning, holiday planning as in where I want to go and things I want to see in all the places, then things to take and things that need sorting inthe run up to the holiday like book the cat sitter, insurance, transfers, parking etc. Also meal planning, house decorating, walks I want to do and things I want to buy. It's mostly a brain dump of ideas, and I'm not sure that it's helpful.

I do wonder what would happen if I deleted most of it (except the cruicial stuff like the budget and actual important things) and started again from scratch.

I use it for the household budget but I have great plans for an "upcoming TV that we really want to watch" spreadsheet.

I use them for
*Household budgets
*Xmas presents. It lets me tally up what I'm buying the kids so I can track that I'm spending around the same amount on each etc.
*Holiday budgets; setting my "target" and tallying up what I save each month until I reach my goal.

Note that you can also password protect them, which is what I do for my budget ones. Just incase anyone ever gets access to my files.

We've got a couple of budgeting ones, for example when calculating childcare costs. We also have a Christmas one with addresses for family and friends to send cards to and a log of presents. If I have any ideas for presents throughout the year I add them on there so I'm not stuck wondering what to get people. I also have a budget for Christmas presents so I note down what I've bought, what it cost and it tells me what I have left to spend.

Gas and electricity average daily consumption both on a timeline and, for gas, cumulative over the year Sep-Jun so that I can see how this year's usage is comparing with previous years. Also average monthly cost.

Produce from the garden (I don't bother with weighing, just add 1 every time a food from our garden features in a meal) - allows me to work out what's best value to grow in terms of contribution to our diet, or which apple trees are showing declining yields and should be replaced.

Anything financial stuff because it's nice to have running totals automatically updated.

My personal jobs list - it's easier to tabulate in Excel than Word, but I'm not really using it for its intended purpose.

Flora list for conservation work I'm involved in - easy to re-sort to produce lists in order of english name, scientific name, flower family, all plants recorded in one area, etc. Would be better in a database program, but Excel is easily available.

Organising volunteer working parties - start by recording which dates volunteers are potentially available, then, having chosen a date, record mileage claims, covert miles to £, add up totals.

I make a spreadsheet before I pack for a holiday - trousers/skirts/tshirts/dresses/toiletries etc. It. Means I can make sure I have all my faves but forces me to make the hard decisions of what to leave behind without being confused by all of my clothes.

I have been mocked for this on many occasion, but I swear by it.

Also - itineraries!

Useful features for straight lists
a) ability to sort
b) conditional formatting - eg "if date this needs to be done be minus today's date is less than 3 colour job in amber; if it's 1 or less, colour it red"

Christmas Dinner Time Plan.

Every year I used to sit down on Christmas Eve and work it out from scratch. Then a few years ago I realised that, give or take the odd detail, we have the same thing every year and the only variables are what time we want to eat. So I put it in the spreadsheet and then every year I just have to tweak it for the differences and the "Sit down to eat" time and then it is all worked out for me.

Oh and the Christmas Card list of course. Though the age we are now sadly it seems we take more people off then we add!

DH is a huge spreadsheet fan and will create one at any opportunity:

• holiday planning
• shopping lists
• budgetting

YY to the Christmas Dinner Time Plan. I have two versions, tweaked over a number of years, the 'big family dinner with lots of guests and 101 different ways with sprouts and potatoes' and the slimmed down low effort one we do when it's just me and DP.

Includes the shopping list, what has to happen the day before and on the day itself.

Wedding guest list including postal address and responses.

I recalculated our mortgage payments etc when we were remortgaging rather than having to wait to be sent illustrations. But I do something related at work so I was confident with the maths.

@BarbaraofSevillle Mine has a big gap in the middle when nothing needs to be done that just says "Relax. Open presents."

Tracking finances. Each spend is categorised and I do a pivot table and chart to see at a glance where the money is going.

I make a spreadsheet before I pack for a holiday- trousers/skirts/tshirts/dresses/toiletries etc. It. Means I can make sure I have all my faves but forces me to make the hard decisions of what to leave behind without being confused by all of my clothes.

Surely that’s just a list? You could do that in word or with pen and paper.

You could, yabbers, but where would be the fun in that? (Also it's easier to use the columns for each category.)

One extensive one for budgeting, one for mortgage repayments (including forecasts for future overpayment etc), one for tracking DD's time with her Dad.

If you want to use one for budgeting the MSE one via Martin Lewis is the one I use, and it's excellent. I sum 'yearly' expenses, average the total over 12 months, and then put the monthly amount into my savings every payday, so I've always got enough to cover the car insurance etc

Budgeting and school holidays planning.

I know someone who has used one to track every single purchase he has made since he left home at 22 (he is 38 now), and someone who has used it to track his exercise programme for years.

I have a holiday packing spreadsheet saved. I print it off when I am about to pack each time I go and cross off everything as I pack it. I know I will not forget ANYTHING so it takes the stress out of packing.

I keep it in excel so I can add new things and remove things that I don't need to take with me anymore

It has an extra tab for Last Minute Packing for early morning flights so I don't forget my toothbrush or charger etc

I like the idea above of extending it to booking the cattery etc. I feel a third tab coming on

Printing lined paper (narrow lines to help teach handwriting, and blank music paper) , names&addresses, drawing out floor plans (using graphic shapes: lines and rectangles)

I have one to track the different jobs I need to do while I'm renovating my house and how much its all costing. Its not very sophisticated though!

I comings and outgoings
Itinerary for Disney hol last year
Budgeting i.e decorating/new kitchen etc.
Chritmas/birthday lists and prices
Organising childcare (my a/l, dh's a/l and school hol dates - all colour coded of course 😑)

Playing along with popmaster (to add up my scores in work so nobody knows what I am doing lol)

Lots of use for it in work on a daily basis for differing reasons. Lots of reports and spreadsheets.

Monthly budget, Xmas shopping list/budget, plus those holidays when I am staying in a different place each night and need to ensure I have each night accommodation/cost accounted for, plus places to shop, plus public transport (I backpack a lot, and also rely on buses/ferries..).

And I'm a bit of a data geek, so I create/download big spreadsheets so that I can play with formulas and software - but that's coz I am a) sad and b) probably looking for a new employer soon.

Also have a 'holiday countdown' spreadsheet that counts the days to the next holiday - that I regularly have to replace for my DPs coz they keep breaking it!