Category Setup
Named ranges + validation lists live here — every other tab pulls categories from this sheet, nothing is typed twice.
| Income categories | |
|---|---|
| Salary | Fixed |
| Freelance | Variable |
| Investments | Variable |
| Other Income | Variable |
| Expense categories | |
|---|---|
| Housing | Needs |
| Groceries | Needs |
| Dining Out | Wants |
| Subscriptions | Wants |
| Debt Payment | Savings |
Setup!B2:B20 → data validation list, referenced by Transactions!C:C and every monthly dashboard via ARRAYFORMULA(IF(...))
Transactions Log
Single flat log — every dashboard downstream is a formula view of this table, never a manual copy.
| Date | Category | Description | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-02 | Salary | January paycheck | Income | +3,200.00 |
| 2026-01-03 | Housing | Rent | Expense | -1,150.00 |
| 2026-01-05 | Groceries | Whole Foods | Expense | -96.40 |
| 2026-01-08 | Subscriptions | Streaming bundle | Expense | -24.99 |
| 2026-01-10 | Freelance | Design gig | Income | +450.00 |
| 2026-01-12 | Dining Out | Team dinner | Expense | -58.20 |
| 2026-01-15 | Debt Payment | Credit card snowball | Expense | -200.00 |
| 2026-01-20 | Groceries | Trader Joe's | Expense | -71.85 |
| 2026-01-25 | Investments | Dividend | Income | +38.50 |
| Row height / borders / conditional formatting | protected | |||
Category totals never re-typed: =SUMIFS(Transactions!$E:$E, Transactions!$C:$C, "Groceries", Transactions!$A:$A, ">="&DATE(2026,1,1))
January Dashboard — Plan vs Fact
Everything on this tab is a live formula pulling from Setup + Transactions — nothing is hand-entered.
Total Income
$3,688.50
Total Expenses
$1,601.44
Net Cash Flow
$2,087.06
Savings Rate
56.6%
Plan column: named range Setup!$D$2:$D$20 · Fact column: SUMIFS against Transactions · Bar width: =Fact/Plan capped at 100%
50/30/20 Rule Calculator
One of the requested financial calculators — live, recalculates on input, same idea applies to Debt Snowball/Avalanche and Net Worth.
Monthly take-home income: $
Needs (50%)
$1,900.00
Wants (30%)
$1,140.00
Savings / Debt (20%)
$760.00
=Income*0.5 / =Income*0.3 / =Income*0.2 — same pattern used for Debt Snowball (sort by balance ASC, apply extra payment to smallest first) and Net Worth (SUM(Assets)-SUM(Liabilities))