The Only Budgeting Spreadsheet You’ll Ever Need (Seriously)
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
This simple spreadsheet created about a month ago saves thousands of dollars per year. Working from home involves recording, editing, creating thumbnails, and kids at home, creating a catastrophe. To get out, eating out at restaurants or grabbing food to go to a park. Good cook, wife is too, not a skill issue or money issue, but need to escape the house and kids before head explodes. Eating out is one of the worst budget categories because small purchases don't feel expensive but add up. Started documenting and saw it.
Traditional budgeting fails: apps are complicated, require linking 87 bank accounts, 13 checking accounts, investment accounts. Similar to a diet relying on willpower, rules, systems that don't work long term.
Tracking intentionally led to not wanting to eat out anymore. Started making way more food at home, embraced it, created own little restaurant inside house. Eating better, healthier, saving thousands of dollars. Awareness changed entire premise of spending. Not a money issue, could afford $10-$15 lunches to get out, not $70 steaks.
Example: Returning Amazon item at Kohl's, went to favorite authentic Chinese place with great lunch specials for $10-15. Sat down, opened Google spreadsheet on phone, decided didn't need to eat there, went home and made food. Huge change like smoker putting down cigarette or binge eater skipping donut. Simple awareness, not discipline. Not hard to open spreadsheet, enter three characters in a cell and press enter on phone.
Quick system for life and money easier, especially if credit not great: sponsor Kickoff. Money doesn't stop at budgeting, credit matters for home buying, car loans, insurance rates, credit cards. Building credit not intuitive. Kickoff helps build credit safely, easily: no credit check, no interest, no hidden fees. Affordable monthly plans start at $5/month, improve positive payment history and lower utilization. Sign up in minutes, turn on autopay, make on-time payments reported to all three credit bureaus. Not for spending. Users under 600 credit: average 25 points first month, up to 86 points after first year. 80% off first month, as low as $1, link in description.
Spending log for any problem: food, shopping, Amazon addiction, retail like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods. Ridiculously simple, track everything spent the moment it happens, 5 seconds with Google Drive on phone.
Column D hidden (establishment name), column F hidden (notes like order this next time, food sucked, use gift card). Separate tab for shopping. Yellow highlighted cell: budget per month, only number to adjust besides daily costs. Example: $500/month budget. $4.85/day or $147/month actual. Set to $1000 or $250, changes quarters.
Broken into quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4), multiply monthly by 3 for 3-month chunk (holidays, birthdays). Quarterly budget $1500 (500*3). Total sums column E spends. Remaining budget = budget minus spent.
Color-coded: budget per day $16.44 for exactly $500/month, aim under. Below budget (0 to $16.43): green cell. Above: red. More green than red days. Many Z days (all three meals from home). Helped reduce from more than $500/month previously.
Annual projection: average daily spend $4.85 * 365 = $1771/year. Monthly: $147. Average of entire column E. Demo: $10,000 spend on 28th spikes average to $267/day, $97k/year, $8k/month.
Enter immediately after spend, e.g., $13.49 at Longhorn lunch. Thinks about spreadsheet before buying, realizes could cook at home. Current: $4.73/day, significantly under budget. Could lower to $250/month.
What gets measured gets managed. Like weighing food for calories: accurate vs. winging it. Previously spending significantly more than $500/month on eating out, even with business write-offs, now saving thousands.
Shopping tab example: set $500/month for Amazon/convenience buys like workout equipment. Shopping can be any vice: grocery, Louis Vuitton purses, vaping, cigarettes. Red/green days, squeaking under budget by one penny.
Main page totals shopping + food: averages per day, extrapolates to $643/month projection. Was spending more than this on eating out alone, despite cooking well. Now minimal spends, staying within budget.
Apps like Monarch Money, Mint, EveryDollar by Dave Ramsey are great but too complicated. This hits in the gut: track right after purchase or before clicking buy now, regret or reconsider. Americans have too much.
Works long term: not restrictive or exhausting. Likes tracking, analytical, color-coded (red= messed up, green= did well). Like caloric deficit diet. Goal: 14% body fat, see abs (dad mode, sleep/diet messed up, cutting alcohol 95%).
Benefits analytical people who do easy work: open Google Drive, type three numbers or zero, 2 seconds. Not for those needing everything connected, 18 trillion processes.
Like choosing yogurt with frozen blueberries/bananas vs. pint of ice cream: better dopamine, healthier. Pavlov's dogs or shock collar zapping stupid purchases. Consciously decide because must log after. Non-negotiables like workouts M/W/Th.
Pay for it in Whiteboard Finance University tools/resources section, $10/month (lowered from $67, will increase). Includes trades, financial independence flow (13MB PDF), reading list, money hacks, Jacob Wade's moneysaver cheat sheet, personal finance, stocks, real estate, main chat with trades.
Final takeaway: Update spreadsheet (20 seconds), improve spending habits inevitably. Like measuring food/counting calories/macros.
Check out Whiteboard Finance University, $10/month.
Keep Marko - WhiteBoard Finance in your library
Save the videos and channels worth coming back to, and find them again in one place.
