Numbers monthly budget spreadsheet

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Level 1

5 points

Numbers monthly budget spreadsheet

I am brand new to ANY type of spreadsheet, so i may be missing very basic information, so I apologize if this is a very simple thing most people know. I am trying to make a budget using the monthly budget spreadsheet. I have inputed all of my transactions (42 total) on the transaction sheet (I added a row by clicking the equal sign at the bottom each time i needed to add a row). I kept all the categories as they originally came (tried to change them but I was ripping my hair out so I started over and just kept everything as it is until I can learn the program). After I put in each transaction, I went to the "budget" page and clearly not everything is adding up. For category it is showing I spent $813.75, but what I have inputed under that particular category on the transactions sheet adds up to $3,192.9. I attempted to add the first several in the category to see if that number added to $813.75 and then everything inputted after that just wasn't being added in, but that isn't the case. I am at a complete loss. I was hoping this would be a simple program to use but i have spent about 4 hours trying to make it work for me and clearly it isn't. Is there a good tutorial on youtube for a complete beginner who has never really used a spreadsheet? Thanks so much!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 25, 2016 12:12 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 25, 2016 1:28 PM in response to got3kidz

I assume you are using the built-in template "Personal Budget". Correct?

I added rows so there were at least 42 rows and can say that the template seems to work correctly. Perhaps you could post a screenshot of the Sheet titled "Budget" and another screenshot of the sheet titled "Transactions"

Take a look at this user tip for posting a screenshot:

How to Post a screenshot to the Apple Discussion Forums

I would guess that if things are not adding up correctly that the categories in the table "SUMMARY BY CATEGORY" do not match the categories on the "Transactions" sheet:

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Answer 2

got3kidz Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 25, 2016 2:02 PM in response to got3kidz

yes, that is the Personal Budget I am using. Thanks for the information on how to take and post screen shots! 😁 I did NOT change the "summary by category" in any way. I am using the drop down menu while inputting the category in the Transactions section exactly as you have shown in your screen shot. At first i attempted to change names of the categories, but i couldn't figure that out. I started completely over with a BRAND NEW template so I didn't mess anything up. The second time I did not modify the program in any way (that I am aware of) because I don't know what I'm doing with it.

Maybe I accidentally did something that I am not aware of. Did I add additional lines the correct way? I did go through and delete every single cell when I first opened up the program because I didn't know how to clear the "stock info that was there". Maybe that messed it up? I noticed SOME of the categories initially had a drop down menu and some did not, so I just deleted every single row that had information in it in the transactions sheet. Below is what is what appears when you open the program and I just highlighted and deleted all the rows instead of clearing each cell individually.

thanks!

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Answer 3

Oct 25, 2016 2:14 PM in response to got3kidz

When you post screenshot, provide context around them... like the title of the table, the name of the sheet, as many of the columns as you can.

for this template to work you must fill out the following:

on the sheet "Transactions":

- the category

- an amount for that category

when clearing data, I suggest remove all but one row (I suggest removing all rows after row 3), then copy the cell C3 (which has the pop-up menu) and paste it in the next row, then change the category to one in the pop-up menu.

you can type the category, or select from the pop-up (it doesn't matter). What does matter is that the spelling exactly match what is in the first sheet "Budget"

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Answer 4

got3kidz Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 27, 2016 8:00 AM in response to got3kidz

i will try to to figure out the clearing and copying of the cells as you suggested. Thanks. I didn't post a wider screen shot since it was a budget (and i know my categories may not make sense...but I am trying to keep them exactly as provided for right now as I get the feel for using the template), but here is some of what I put in for Transactions (i have 43 lines total so this isn't all of them). But as you can see below I DID use the "stock" categories and I did put an amount. All the cells are filled in across a row.

thank you for being so patient with me and explaining what I am sure is common sense to you.... hmmmm, I couldn't get on the forum yesterday and I just realized this response never posted, but auto saved. Sorry for "disappearing". thanks!

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