Great free budgeting spreadsheet for life after BK!

[Diesel73L]

We are approaching one full year since our CH7 discharge (March 31st) and our resolution this year is to really get a handle on our finances. Things immediately post discharge were a bit uncertain since my wife was still on unemployment and my future job prospects looked bleak, but by the grace of God we will both ring in 2014 with new jobs and a fresh start. One of the challenges of budgeting for me was always the fluctuation of expenses from month to month. Of course there are some that never change much if at all (utilities, communications, car payment, etc...) but then there's groceries, fuel costs, and some irregular bills. For example, our car insurance company gives us fantastic rates and great service, but they bill us over 9 months out of the year instead of 12-I could never figure out why. Then there's garbage, sewer, and water, which is bill quarterly. To top it off my wife is a teacher and her district does not offer to split her checks into 24 pay periods instead of 20, so she receives no income in July and August.

Needless to say it made tracking income and expenses hard, plus, pre-BK so much of our money was going to credit card minimums anyway. This spreadsheet, through the magic of Excel formulas, can account for month to month fluctuations and show you how your budget is doing over the long run. I found this IMMENSELY helpful just playing around with the numbers. I think this will go a long way to help us achieve our financial goals of building savings and living below (not within-below) our means. So here's my early Christmas gift to all those who have gotten their Hampster dance and all who hopefully will get it soon:

http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/family-budget-planner.html

[Drazil65]

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary and new jobs for both! Excellent news and a lot to look forward to. Its so refreshing to read from someone that is recently out of chp 7 and is excited about NOT using CC and actually using a budget. I read so many stories here where it seems people fresh out of bankruptcy discharge cannot wait to "rebuild credit" or get that mortgage again. I am not sure they have learned anything from their experience. Funny thing though, unless you pay cash for your new house you are basically renting from the bank with a mortgage and god knows what happened to all that equity the last time (most of us ended up upside down with no help from the banks).

Nice spreadsheet and appears to be user friendly. Good Luck on your new journey, living the simple life on a cash basis is so freeing and no more financial stress. Its all good!

[spidge]

Thanks for the link. I have been using something similar, but have the same issues as you do. Wife does not get paid in the summer and very high electric bills in the summer. Thank goodness car insurance recently started monthly payments, as we were paying every other month. This becomes very challenging as my wife may see an excess of cash and thinks she can spend it leaving us short the following month.
The spreed sheet I use allows me to input my guesstimations from month to month, but I like what you posted. We have actually not looked at it in some time as we reduced our expenses greatly, but we do revisit from time to time to see if we are making progress toward our goal of 1k excess per month beyond all living expenses. It keeps our money in our pockets when we come back and see how creating even a small expense affects the overall budget goal.

Thanks agian