Monday, September 3, 2007

Zero-Based budget spreadsheet

I've decided to go ahead and share the Zero-Based Budget spreadsheet that I've been using to set up my budget every month. This spreadsheet will work with NeoOffice, OpenOffice, and anything that can read/write Microsoft Excel files.

I actually prefer to call it a Cashflow Plan. "Budget" sounds like you have to pay your bills, pay down your debt, and then you've got $5 to last you the month. Cashflow plan (and Zero-based budget) means you figure out how much money you have coming in and you decide how you are going to use each and every dollar.

So far, I haven't found any personal finance program that does a good job at budgeting. MoneyDance does a great job at everything else. So I create my budget for the month with this spreadsheet and then put the final numbers into MoneyDance so I can track how my spending stacks up against the budget.

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