Creating a Personal Budget

In this article, you'll learn how to create a very simple personal budget using the OpenOffice Calc program, which is a free alternative to Microsoft Excel.

If you're on Linux, chances are you already have the entire OpenOffice suite installed and ready to go. If you don't have OpenOffice Calc on your computer, you can download it using the link below or if you have Microsoft Excel on your computer, you can follow the OpenOffice Calc instructions while using Excel. The instructions are mostly the same for both programs, with a few exceptions I will note in the article.

Download and Install

You can download OpenOffice from the link below. Once you've downloaded OpenOffice, you'll need to locate and run the executable file. The name of the file should be similar to OOo_3.1.0_Win32Intel_install_wJRE_en-US.exe.

• Download OpenOffice Here

Once you're ready, go ahead and launch the Calc program. If you're on Windows like me, just go to Start -> Programs (or "All programs") -> OpenOffice.org and then select OpenOffice.org Calc.

Introduction

OpenOffice Calc is a spreadsheet (aka a flat database) composed of columns and rows. The columns and rows intersect in flat, rectangular "boxes", called "cells". Each of the cells has a unique "address". The address of a given cell is a combination of the column letter(s) and row number it resides in. For example A1 means column A row 1 and AE7 means column AE row 7. Cell B5 is selected in the graphic below. Notice that when you select a cell the column letter and row number background changes to a light blue. The complete cell address is also displayed above the spreadsheet itself (it's circled in the graphic).



Each of the cells in our spreadsheet can store data. In our case, the top row of cells will store the year; pay periods from 1-26 (we will be assuming the budget is for someone who is paid bi-weekly); and finally, at the end of the column headings row a column I call "breakdown", which we'll learn about at the end of the article.

The first column will store the names of sources of income and sources of expenses. All the other cells below the headings columns will store dollar amounts, of either income or expenses. For each pay period, we will add to the "carryover" any earned income and then subtract from that combined total all the expenses. We will be left with a balance, hopefully, which we will then carry over to the next pay period and start the process all over again.

The effect of all this will be that we will have created a "flow through" budget, income flows through each of the pay periods, which will tell us in February or April how much cash we'll have on hand in October or December. Well, it will tell us that if things flow pretty much as we have budgeted. Of course, if they don't, at least we'll see where the problem is going to be and we can modify the budget "now" to head off the problem.

If you are paid weekly, you will need to create a budget with 52 columns for the 52 weeks in a year; plus one column for the names of your incomes and expenses; plus a "breakdown" column. Or, if paid monthly, you'll need a 12 column budget for the 12 months, plus one column for income and expenses; and a "breakdown" column. If you are self-employed, you can use whatever format you prefer.

Note: this article includes a zip download that contains paid weekly, bi-weekly and monthly "template" budgets as well as the sample budget used in this article. So, be sure and download those.

Getting Started

Saving Your Budget

Let's start out by saving our budget. At the top of the program there is a main menu with File, Edit, View, Insert, etc. Go to File -> Save As and name your budget mybudget_2009. OpenOffice Calc uses the ODS file format for their spreadsheets and Microsoft Excel uses the XLS format. OpenOffice Calc can open both ODS and XLS files but Excel can only open XLS files. Fortunately, OpenOffice Calc also has the ability to save spreadsheets in the Excel format. So, if you create a spreadsheet with Calc and need to show it to a friend but they only have Excel you can go to File -> Save As and select Microsoft Excel in the "Save as type" drop down menu.

Using Undo and Redo

As you go through this tutorial, things may not work out for you as I say they will or as the graphics portray. Don't panic. OpenOffice Calc and Microsoft Excel both have an undo function. Each program saves a history of your actions during each session. If you make a mistake, click the undo button on the toolbar until it returns you to the screen where you started and then try again.

To demonstrate, click in cell A1 and type "2009". When you've finished entering 2009 hit the undo button and the text will disappear. Now, notice to the right of the undo button there is a "redo" button. Click the redo button and the 2009 text you entered will return to the cell. The undo button is circled in the graphic below.



You can also trigger the undo function by holding down the control key and then hitting the Z key on your keyboard (CTRL + Z). The redo function can be triggered by hitting CTRL + Y.

Adding Column Headers

Alright, let's start adding headers to our budget. Click in cell B1, and type in the number 1. Once you've entered the 1, click the check mark and a thick black border will appear around the cell with a small black box in the bottom right corner.



We need to add pay period "column headers" for all 26 pay periods in the year. Fortunately, we don't have to manually type in each pay period number. Hover your mouse cursor over the small black box in the bottom right corner of cell B1, select it by holding down the left mouse button, and while holding down the button drag your mouse to the right until you reach cell AB1. Calc will "magically" auto-populate the numbers 2 through 27 in row 1 of each of the columns for us.

Center the Text

Now, with the cells still selected (selected cells have a black background), let's center align the text by clicking the "center align" button on the toolbar (it's circled in the graphic).



You may have noticed we went out to the 27^th pay period, but in a bi-weekly setup there are only 26 pay periods. Cell AB1 is actually the "Breakdown" column I vaguely mentioned above. So, what we need to do is replace the text "27" with "Breakdown". To do this, click in cell AB1, delete 27 and replace it with Breakdown.



Now scroll all the way back to the left, and center align the text "2009" in cell A1. When you've finished, continue below and we'll start adding "account names" to our budget.

Adding Account Names

Alright, it's time to start adding account names to the budget. After selecting the appropriate cells, enter the following "accounts" into the budget. The easiest way to enter the account names is by clicking in the first cell, entering the name and then pressing the down arrow on your keyboard to progress to the next cell.

Feel free to enter your own personal set of income and expense sources in order to personalize the budget for your own needs. Doing so won't affect the rest of this tutorial.

I did make this practice budget pretty simple so it might be better if you do enter your own personal income and expense sources. Then, you will truly create your own personal budget.

In my expense categories "Cash WD" means cash withdrawal from the bank. The example budget accommodates 1 withdrawal per week (2 Cash WD rows per pay-period, which is bi-weekly). This is the money our imaginary person withdrawals each week just to live on: cash for groceries, lunch at work, gasoline, etc. Feel free to adjust your budgeted withdrawals as necessary. The other income and expense categories are pretty self explanatory.



Now let's add 2 borders to visually separate the income sources which we'll add up in row 5 and our expense sources which we'll add up in row 16. To do this, select cells A4 through AB4 by clicking in cell A4 and then holding down your left mouse button and dragging it to the right all the way to cell AB4. Once you've selected the cells, click the border button on the toolbar and a menu with border options will appear. Select the "bottom border" option as depicted in the graphic below.



Repeat this process by selecting cells A15 through AB15 and applying the bottom border to that row of cells as well. Here's what your budget should look like when you've finished.

Coloring Our Budget

Up next, we'll add a little color to our budget. We'll add a background color to the pay period, total cash and total expenses rows. Let's start with the pay period rows by selecting cells A1 through AB1. Once selected, click the paint bucket button on the toolbar and select the color "yellow" from the menu that appears.



Now select cells A5 through AB5 and apply the "Chart 3" background color to those cells. Finally, select cells A16 through AB16 and apply the "Chart 10" background color. Here's what your budget should look like when you're finished.



Alright, let's continue with Formulas, Formatting and Data.