A year late but here's my Google Sheets + Forms budget/expense tracker

[cindy222]

Update - I have added a more mobile-friendly dashboard to this setup using Google Data Studio. Check it out here.

Original Post -

Tl;dr - Sharing a copy of my Budget tracking system which uses Google Sheets + Google Forms. Sheets keeps track, runs the backend and shows me a Dashboard, and Forms lets me fill in the sheet in a much more user friendly manner. The form sits on my phone as a homescreen shortcut, so it's much more intuitive than opening up a spreadsheet to fill in my expenses.

Sample images

• Google Form Mobile UX for Expense Tracking
• Dashboard on Sheets
• Expenses and Income sheets
• Credit Cards

Background:

Almost a year ago on this sub, I had briefly discussed how I manage to track my expenses (comment#1 and comment#2). While there is absolutely nothing that is special about this, and many more sophisticated (and polished) solutions exist, I think those comments resonated with a lot of you who reached out for the template.

So here it is for those of you who wanted to try it. I have my own reasons for sticking to this system for a good couple of years. Every other 3rd party solution/app that I've tried has 2 issues generally

• Questions around privacy and security of my data
• Lacks customization for some very specific needs

While I haven't experimented with too many apps (yes, some apps process data locally, and yes some apps have more features than you can count) I personally don't think I'll get the kind of customization I'm looking for. Still open to suggestions on this.

Pros of this system:

• Highly customizable (add your own categories and sheets for anything you'd like to track - Credit Cards, Big-ticket expenses, Renovation Projects, etc)
  • I've gone as far as using it as a diary to note down important stuff sometimes (just enter it as an expense with a 0 amount) which may be too sensitive for my whatsApp chat with myself
• Reasonable level of privacy and security (Your data is only in your Google Drive and nowhere else)
• Pain-free process of filling up expenses via Google Form on phone (much more convenient than sitting with a PC populating a spreadsheet manually)
• Learning how to work with spreadsheets.

Cons of this system:

• Takes some time to get your own system in place, reach a place where you can track everything you need to. (Hopefully my template can be a starting point)
• Even filling up a form for every expense feels too cumbersome at times. Especially for expenses that happen frequently at regular intervals (I have a partial solution for this). But this is a big disadvantage compared to apps that automatically pick up expenses
• Learning how to work with spreadsheets.

This template had been long pending, and I was finally able to share it. Would be happy to get some feedback/suggestions on how to do this even better. Also feel free to message if the sheet doesn't work as expected - I'm no spreadsheet wizard so I'm sure there are issues/edge cases which I haven't encountered yet.

 

[iamabcg]

@cindy222 Is it worth to spent time on this?

 

[lifechanyuan]

@iamabcg Definitely yes. I started doing this about 6-7 yrs ago & you will realise that there are many non-sense categories, on which I used to spend & now I have reduced it considerably!

Also, goal based approach is fantastic to ensure you save the desired amount

 

[pearllike]

@iamabcg Yes, I Purchased Money Manager from Google Play Store to manage my Income/Expenses. It's worth it, I know where I need to set limits. Reduced Spendings on Swiggy/Zomato, and started diverting that cash to Investing.

 

[coplin48]

@pearllike I purchased Moneywise Pro. Good app, been using it for 9 years, I strongly recommend that one too.

 

[rainwhisper]

@iamabcg IMO, no. Entering expenses manually is a pain in the rear.

I try to use my credit card for all expenses. And then at the end of the month I parse the credit card statement to get a picture of all my expenses.

 

[cindy222]

@rainwhisper This might seem odd, but I actually agree with you for the most part.

After using this for some time, I feel like I already have a good grip on my finances, and now an automated parsing mechanism would be more helpful.

The issue is with older family members not using a single credit card and still being heavily reliant on cash. For me, personally, 1 Bank Account + 1 Credit Card can actually take care of most of my expenses.

 

[subashsingh]

@rainwhisper Just a question, how do you parse the statement? Did you write a custom parser for it?