CREATE A MONTHLY BUDGET PLANNER WITH GOOGLE DOCS

Every family needs a budget to adhere to, be it monthly or annual. For a family to be able to manage within their income and be able to save as well, it needs proper budget planning. Taking into account all known sources of monthly income, the husband and wife need to make a list of essential expenses incurred every month. Arriving at a proper list can be a daunting task, but once made, this rarely needs deviation and can be the same every month.

Essentials can include home rentals, electricity, water, telephone bills, groceries, newspapers, domestic help, school and college fees for children, transport, car maintainence, clothing and accessories, salon trips,etc. Each family has their own lifestyle and the expenses are built around it. Entertainment such as movies, local trips, and travel add to the budget too. Additional cash needs to be made available in case of medical or other emergencies. The remaining would be your savings.

The age-old practice of putting everything down on paper still holds good, but in today's digital world, communication and collaboration in real time makes one more efficient. Microsoft Excel is good to draw up your family budget, highlighting with colors. These spreadsheets can be saved and emailed to other member of family for corrections. But, those familiar with Google Docs are sure to agree with me that it is far more fun when you can customize and fill in ready-to-use monthly budget planner templates. Even your grocery list can be done up with google docs.

The ease with which you can fill up your spreadsheet on Google Docs is only the start. You can invite all family members to edit the spreadsheet in real time, adding personal notes, graphs, and chat while you do. Being able to invite and collaborate instantly with all family members at the same time wherever they are(office, college, travel) makes communication faster and your family budget or your grocery list is ready.

Advantages of Using Google Docs For Your Family Budget Planning

• All get to collaborate and edit in real time thereby saving time.
• Spreadsheets stored online and can be retrieved whenever and from wherever.
• Helps tracking your budget and sticking to it.
• All you need is your gmail account.

Sign in to Google Docs now!