SOLVED

Organizing bank transactions into separate columns to know where my money is going.

Copper Contributor

I am trying to take my transactions that I downloaded from my bank website and separate the different types into separate columns so I know how much of my money is going where. This way I can figure out where I need to trim spending in the future so that I can start saving money.

 

I want to be able to use a drop down menu in "type" column that when I select "PODS" it copies the total into the correct column automatically so it looks like Line 10 in the below example.

 

This is just 1 account eventually I want to merge all my household accounts so I can create a functioning budget for my house hold to control debt and create savings.

 

SCOTIA CHEQUING.xlsx

2 Replies
best response confirmed by Trixy416 (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@Trixy416 Allow me to recommend a quite different approach. If you are not familiar with Pivot Tables you should learn about them. They are a great way to analyse data like yours. 

 

Start with a list of transactions where you select the Type from the drop-down as you suggested. The drop-down list is a Named Range that points to table on a separate sheet. Add items to the table and the dd-list will automatically adjust itself.

 

Then create a Pivot Table from the transaction list. I've added an example of such a table. Add transactions to the large table, press Refresh All on the Data ribbon and the Pivot Table will be updated.

 

See attached.

I will definitely look into doing it this way as it seems to be much easier to do.
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Trixy416 (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@Trixy416 Allow me to recommend a quite different approach. If you are not familiar with Pivot Tables you should learn about them. They are a great way to analyse data like yours. 

 

Start with a list of transactions where you select the Type from the drop-down as you suggested. The drop-down list is a Named Range that points to table on a separate sheet. Add items to the table and the dd-list will automatically adjust itself.

 

Then create a Pivot Table from the transaction list. I've added an example of such a table. Add transactions to the large table, press Refresh All on the Data ribbon and the Pivot Table will be updated.

 

See attached.

View solution in original post