There are many different ways you can lay out and keep track of your personal budget, but not everyone has the same ideas about what works for them. Some can do it all in their head and have few problems, while some like to use complicated software to keep track of everything and to remind them when a bill is due. If you want to keep better track of your spending, but you do not want to learn how to use complicated financial software, you may want to build your own home budget spreadsheet so that you can do it the way that you feel most comfortable.
Probably the best thing about a home budget spreadsheet is that you can do whatever you want with this without having to take the time to learn how to use more complicated software. There are many great software packages out there that you can use, and they all work really well, but if you have a rather simple budget that you just need to pay minimal attention to, that may be too much for you and not worth the investment. If you can come up with a simple spreadsheet that does the job for you without too much hassle, that is definitely the way to go.
If you have extensive investments and more than a few credit cards, you may find that a home budget spreadsheet sheet may be too simplistic to keep track of all your finances. However, a simple budget can be handled with a simple spreadsheet. A good spreadsheet can also show you how things have been going over time with an easy calculations that you can program into your sheet. This can be a little hard to do if you have never used spreadsheet software, but for those that have experience with it, it should be a matter of a few minutes work to see a trend in your spending or income.
As with any other means of keeping personal and financial information, you should always do what you can to protect your home budget spreadsheet from prying eyes. You should also make sure that you back up your information very carefully. You can do this a few different ways. You can save to an external hard drive at least once week, save to a CD, or you can simply print out copies of your spreadsheet so that you have a hard copy for your taxes and also one to save in the event something happens to your computer and your backups. You can not back up enough when it comes to financial records you need.
There are many different types of programs that you may already have on your computer you can use to make your own home budget spreadsheets. If you don't have anything, you can find simple spreadsheet software for a great price either online or in your local computer store. There are different types, so get the one that works best for you. If you are a beginner, a simple program will do, though you may find that you want to buy something else when you get better at using your software of choice.