Well, it's not just about tracking costs. The spreadsheets are useful to organize research and make decisions on how to spend your money. Obviously, prices are just a component in the decision-making.
Spreadsheets? Do any of you use them to track your expenses?
- Thread starter Damifudo
- Start date
I started out logging my sailing expenses, including assigning each expense to a certain category, but I quickly gave that up. See Posts 1-21 for the reasons, I understand them all.
I do however have a very limited budget allowed for this, my first sailboat. That is so I'll have enough money to buy the second sometime in the near future. So, everytime I think of spending money on the boat, I not only think about what it will cost me today, but also what I could buy with that money if I had invested it for 5 years. Then I ask myself which purchase will make me happier? I've averted quite a few purchases with this technique.
So, if you want to learn how to really use spreadsheets, learn how to do compound interest calculations (available and easy in Excel) and run them before you spend money.
I do however have a very limited budget allowed for this, my first sailboat. That is so I'll have enough money to buy the second sometime in the near future. So, everytime I think of spending money on the boat, I not only think about what it will cost me today, but also what I could buy with that money if I had invested it for 5 years. Then I ask myself which purchase will make me happier? I've averted quite a few purchases with this technique.
So, if you want to learn how to really use spreadsheets, learn how to do compound interest calculations (available and easy in Excel) and run them before you spend money.
I just Googled "sailing and spreadsheets". Prepare to be amazed! Plenty of opportunities to be an expert in Excel !
Take a gander at this! http://www.svsarah.com/Sailing/ewInventory.htm
Take a gander at this! http://www.svsarah.com/Sailing/ewInventory.htm
I downloaded a BIGLY YUGE spreadsheet from a C320 skipper once. It had more tabs than anything the Pentagon could have come up with! 
Sometimes it gets way overboard (pun intended!). Do what you think you need and build from there.
Sometimes it gets way overboard (pun intended!). Do what you think you need and build from there.If you get carried away with tracking your costs with Excel, you might just become famous for it.
See http://chipford.com/cost.htm
See http://chipford.com/cost.htm
Our boat is one of the most rare types on the planet: the property of a successful partnership. One reason for this extraordinary success if the fact that time spent on maintenance (as a function of cost; hours * dollars) and the costs of licensing, slip fees and materials is tracked on a spreadsheet. I have a few simple formulas that calculate the totals spent by each partner and then derive the percentage of contribution for each. We keep it simple by just looking at the grand total from the day of purchase to the present. We each then know where we stand at a given time.
I find knowing the costs to be very helpful for budgeting expenses into the future. This helps us ensure that funds are available for both minor, frequent expenses, such as slip fees and for major, infrequent expenses like haul outs and the replacement of rigging.
I find knowing the costs to be very helpful for budgeting expenses into the future. This helps us ensure that funds are available for both minor, frequent expenses, such as slip fees and for major, infrequent expenses like haul outs and the replacement of rigging.
Keep a spread sheet on the money you spend on your wife, and then show it to her. Go on, I dare you.
This is like that.
Better, minimize you fixed costs (marina, insurance, depreciation) and then fence of some funds and see how far you can spread them.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-book-store.html
This is like that.
Better, minimize you fixed costs (marina, insurance, depreciation) and then fence of some funds and see how far you can spread them.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-book-store.html