Joby's Budget Spreadsheet - 2011 Early Bird

I've released it at last, a very complex (but easy to use) system for managing your money on a year-long scale! The whole thing is built in Google Docs, too, so it's a snap to keep updated, wherever you are.
If you spent too much money on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then this is your chance to get a jump on budgeting, and pick up the early bird edition. This copy will let you start with December first (that's Wednesday) instead of January first.
Joby's Budget Spreadsheet - 2011 Early Bird Edition
(go to File -> Make a Copy to save an editable copy in your own Google Docs account)

What it does

• Monthly cash flow tracking - keep a handle on whether you're in the black or in the red.
• Set and track goals for cash, debt and savings - know at glance if you're reaching your goals.
• Plan for upcoming large purchases - never be caught with barely (or not) enough in your checking account again!
• Six-month review sheet - stop at the end of June to take a look at how you've done.
• Daily granularity - input transactions by the day for maximum insight into your financial situation.
• Predicts interest costs of your debts - dates in the future include projected interest costs.
• Predicts interest income on your savings - dates in the future also include projected interest income.
• Easy-to-embed graphs - share the past and the future on your blog by embedding the graphs.

How to get it
Joby's Budget Spreadsheet - 2011 Early Bird Edition
(go to File -> Make a Copy to save an editable copy in your own Google Docs account)

Getting started
To get started, just go to the first sheet in the file using the tabs on the bottom. You're looking for one called "Start."

1. Fill out your debts - Under the header "List your debts" fill out every debt you owe. Include a name, the balance as of December 1st, minimum monthly payment and interest rate. On the right you will see your total debt added up, as well as the total amount you pay every month in interest.
2. List your bills - Include bills that absolutely must be payed every month. Things like rent, phone bill, utilities. Enter an estimate for bills like utilities that vary each month.
3. Current situation - Fill out  cash and savings information - the balances as of December 1st and any interest rates you earn. Your total debt, debt payment and bills should already be filled out using the information you filled out above. Fill out your monthly income and discretionary spending budget, and a saving suggestion should appear. When it says "Cash" it is referring to readily available money in a checking account.
4. Goals - Lastly review the goals at the bottom. The sheet will suggest some for you, but feel free to adjust them as you see fit.

Using the spreadsheet
Monthly tasks
At the beginning of each month pull up the corresponding sheet with the tabs at the bottom and review the starting points. Review the fields "Starting Cash," "Starting Debt," and "Starting Savings." They will include totals based on the previous month, adjusted according to your interest rates, and will likely be not quite right.

Budgeting
Each month has a list of every day in it, along with seven editable columns. Fill these out with the incomes and expenses you expect to encounter over the course of the month.

• Income - money deposited into your checking account.
• Credit Spending - money spent on credit, such as with a credit card.
• Spending - day-to-day spending of all other sorts. I prefer to take out a budgeted amount each week in cash, then only spend cash for daily expenses.
• Bills - recurring payments. Same as spending, but broken into a new column so that they can easily be copied and pasted from one month to the next.
• Debt Payment - payment made from your checking account towards a debt. Remember to always pay off higher interest rate loans first.
• Saving - money moved from your checking account to savings account.
• Savings Withdrawal - money withdrawn from your savings account and placed in your checking account.

Extra saving or debt payments
There is a field in the top of each month titled "Recommended additional debt payments or savings." This is only there to keep you from having too much money in your checking account. It looks for any money above your cash goal (the default is your income rounded up to the nearest $100). Any money above that goal is doing you no good in your checking account, where it earns no interest. You would be well advised to put that money toward a debt to lower your interest payments, or into savings where it can earn you interest.

Planning ahead
Feel free to fill out upcoming months with the exact dates of your upcoming paychecks and bills for as much of the year as you like. By flipping ahead through time you can get a really firm handle on when, exactly you will reach your goals or be able to afford that big purchase.
Also, by planning ahead each month I don't ever have to worry about money in my everyday life. I only have to keep track of the cash in my wallet, and for everything else I just check the spreadsheet. If the totals match and it tells me I should deposit $200 into my savings account I just do it - trusting that I have already checked ahead and doing so will not do me any harm when the bills pile up at the beginning of next month.
The freedom is unbelievable.

Download it now!
Joby's Budget Spreadsheet - 2011 Early Bird Edition
(go to File -> Make a Copy to save an editable copy in your own Google Docs account)