Build a weekly expense tracker

Build a small tracker from a blank sheet. Tick each step as you finish it.

Your steps

10 steps

1. Open a blank workbook in Excel or Google Sheets and rename the sheet "Week 1".
2. In row 1, type these headers: Date, Item, Category, Amount. Make them bold.
3. Enter at least eight purchases from the past week, or make some up, in rows 2 to 9.
4. Format column A as dates and column D as currency.
5. In F1 type "Total spent", then in G1 enter =SUM(D2:D9).
6. In F2 type "Average purchase", then in G2 enter =AVERAGE(D2:D9).
7. In F3 type "Largest purchase", then in G3 enter =MAX(D2:D9).
8. In F4 type "Weekly budget" and enter an amount in G4, such as 150.
9. In G5 enter =IF(G1>G4,"Over budget","On track").
10. Sort rows 2 to 9 by Amount from largest to smallest, then freeze the top row.

Check your work

Change any amount in column D. Your total, average, largest purchase and budget status should all update without retyping anything.

If a result shows #VALUE!, one of the amounts is probably stored as text. Retype it as a plain number with no spaces or currency symbol.