Finding Financial Sanity eBook

Just over a year-and-a-half ago, I put together a simple Excel spreadsheet based on the Balanced Money Formula (first popularized in “All Your Worth” by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi). I had been looking for a simple way to make sense of my money situation because my then-fiancé were getting married in a few months and were going to join our checking accounts. I didn’t have a very good handle on my finances, let alone know what to do with a whole other set of them.

Very quickly I came to rely on my spreadsheet for everything, from making sure we weren’t over-spending on fun stuff to predicting what our finances would look like when my husband and I moved across the country. It became an indispensable tool in my financial management arsenal.

Just after our wedding, my mom called me and said she was worried about my grandma’s financial situation. My grandma’s retirement accounts weren’t going to last as long as we had hoped, and they were both really worried about how she was going to continue to pay for things.

My mom asked if I could send along the “cool spreadsheet” I had been telling her about, so she could use it to help my grandma make sense of her money. So, I put together a more user-friendly version of the spreadsheet, and sent it along.

A few weeks later, I got a call from my grandma. She told me that she and my mom had sat down and gone over her finances. She said,

Looking at all of my money in one place was such a relief. I could see that things were going to be a little tight, but also that they were going to be okay. I sleep better that night than I had in weeks

~Betty Pingel, Retired Minister

Hearing the relief in her voice when she told me how much my spreadsheet had helped her filled me with delight. I decided then and there that I would make my spreadsheet available to as many people as possible.

Download the Balanced Money Formula Spreadsheet

If you would like to use this spreadsheet for yourself, click the link below to download the spreadsheet. There are three formats, .xlsx (Excel 2007), .xls (Excel 97-2003), and .ods (Open Office). If you have a Mac, you can open the .xls but not the .xlsx unless you have one of the newer versions of Pages.

Excel 2007 – Balanced Money Formula Spreadsheet

Excel 97-2003 – Balanced Money Formula Spreadsheet

Open Office – Balanced Money Formula Spreadsheet

If You Need More Than Just a Spreadsheet

As I was thinking about it, though, I realized that not everyone is as comfortable with Excel as I am (I had to teach my mom how to manipulate the spreadsheet so that she could help my grandma), and not everyone knows how to think about getting the information they need to put into the spreadsheet, even if they were comfortable with Excel.

So, with that in mind, I set out to put together an instructional eBook that will lead you through the steps of figuring out your finances, and putting together a simple budget using the Balanced Money Formula spreadsheet.

With this FREE eBook, you get:

  • 27 pages of step-by-step instructions for organizing your finances and putting together a simple budget;
  • An additional 3 pages of resources for further information about managing your money;
  • A paper version of the spreadsheet if you’re more comfortable using pencil and paper than a computer;

Download Now

PS – I want to help people get their money situation figure out in any way I can. This eBook is one way I know I can help people, and I hope that you will find it as useful and instructional as the people I’ve already helped.

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