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Using the program "Money" in Excel 365 on a PC

Copper Contributor

I am trying to use the program Money in Excel 365 and is working good but, I have expenses that need to be broken down.  For Example:  Lets say I pay rent and included in my rent is Electric and Gas Charges that vary month to month.  I need to break down my rent payment to track how much I spend each month of on Electricity and Gas.  Any Suggestions?

4 Replies
I wasn't able to use Money in Excel, so my suggestion will be more general. (Wasn't able because my bank account uses dual factor authentication, so was not accessible; and those transactions were critical parts of tracking).
So I'd ask you first how the "Rent" figure appears in the first place: is it downloaded from a credit card account, a bank account, or do you enter it directly?
If the latter, just separate your entries.
If from an external account, are you able to delete the row and enter three separate rows, one each for "Rent," Elect" and "Gas"?

Another question, though, how precise do you need to be in tracking your utilities? Could you not just (for planning or analytical purposes) use average monthly figures for the year, perhaps seasonalized?

Now, if that was just an example, and what you really are wanting to do is break apart a single payment to, say, Costco--some of which is for food, some for pharmaceuticals, some for electronic equipment--whatever was in the monster cart that got all lumped together into a single figure--then you've got a bigger issue. Then I'd advise keeping a separate spreadsheet where you track the sub-categories on your own. Otherwise, you're going to be pulling your hair out trying to get Money in Excel to handle a level of detail it may not be able to.

Thank you for the suggestion @mathetes I guess I am stuck with either keeping paper work or a separate spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet sounds more feasible so I can track Kilowatts and Cubic feet and have a running total for each part of the year.  Thanks again

best response confirmed by Franco1940 (Copper Contributor)
Solution
Kilowatts and Cubic Feet aren't currencies that Money in Excel tracks anyway. ;)

So your example at the start wasn't just an example, I gather. No...if you're wanting to track something like that, not just the dollars spent on electricity and gas, then a separate sheet is the thing. But if it is the dollars, in fact, then I suggest you look at manual entry of the data, first deleting the comprehensive rent figure and then entering the detailed breakout. I would assume that MiE can handle that.
If it's just a few transactions a month you need to split, you can use manual transactions.
Let's say your rent is $1000/month, and $70 is for electric and $30 is for gas.
You would download this transaction from your bank:
Rent -$1000

Then create three manual transactions:
Rent +$100 (positive 100 dollars)
Gas -$30 (negative 30)
Electric -$70 (negative 70)
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best response confirmed by Franco1940 (Copper Contributor)
Solution
Kilowatts and Cubic Feet aren't currencies that Money in Excel tracks anyway. ;)

So your example at the start wasn't just an example, I gather. No...if you're wanting to track something like that, not just the dollars spent on electricity and gas, then a separate sheet is the thing. But if it is the dollars, in fact, then I suggest you look at manual entry of the data, first deleting the comprehensive rent figure and then entering the detailed breakout. I would assume that MiE can handle that.

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