If you know a few spreadsheet basics, it's easy to create a personalized budget. Even if you aren't very familiar with setting up a spreadsheet, there's always the option of using a free template to do all the initial set up for you. Read on for some great spreadsheet options, some are free.
Excel is very popular and powerful spreadsheet software but it's expensive, especially if you would be buying it just for home use. But, you don't need the latest version of Excel and you can save money by shopping for an earlier version, often found on eBay (but, don't buy software labeled OEM on eBay). If your PC came with Microsoft Office, you already have Excel.
Microsoft Works is another suite of applications (word processor, spreadsheet, graphics, etc.) which includes a spreadsheet, and it commonly comes installed on home computers. If it's not already on your computer, Works is a low cost ($40 for current version) alternative to Office and is adequate for the average home user. The spreadsheet in Microsoft Works is not as powerful as Excel, but it can handle setting up a budget and with ease. Microsoft Works files will not open in Excel or other spreadsheet software, so choose one of the other optoins if you have any intention of sharing your budget with someone on another computer.
Open Office Calc is powerful, free spreadsheet software that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Open Office Calc can easily be used to create a budget, and it's part of an office suite developed by an international team of volunteers and sponsors including Sun Microsystems. Calc can open files created in most versions of Excel as well as other spreadsheets, and has an option to save spreadsheets in these formats.
Google Spreadsheets is a free online spreadsheet that's part of the Google Docs software suite, and can be used with any computer that runs a compatible browser like Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer. Google Spreadsheets imports and exports Excel and OpenOffice files and.csv and .txt formats, so you can save a copy of your budget on your hard drive if you want to. Google Spreadsheets stores data securely and you can keep your budget private or share it with selected individuals (free Gmail account required).
- If you decide not to create a budget with a spreadsheet, you can always put together a budget on paper.
Shelley Elmblad - Shelley Elmblad has been writing about personal finance and reviewing money management software since 2005.
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