To take control of your financial life, you have to be organized, and the most effective tool for this is a budget.

We created the PWR Cash Flow System to help our clients and readers get started with an easy-to-use solution to track their spending.

Start by downloading the excel here. You can also watch a video on how to use this sheet on our YouTube page.

The excel file has three tabs shown at the bottom. We will walk through how to use the three tabs and what goals, terms, and data are needed for each sheet.

Step 1 - Create a Spending Plan

The goal of step one is to analyze your current income and expenses to create a budget you can stick with. This starts with knowing your actual current spending. If there are areas you can cut or categories you would like to spend more in, adjust them here to create your new monthly budget.

Frequency: In column D you will enter how often an expense occurs. If you only pay for your auto insurance every six months, you would enter 2 in frequency (2 times a year). If you buy groceries every month, you will enter 12. We have entered the most common frequency per category type to get you started - adjust these as necessary. *Note: If you get paid "bi-weekly" or "every two weeks," your frequency for salary income will be 26. If you are paid twice a month, it will be 24.

Income: Enter your monthly income. Include any take-home wages (minus taxes and other required deductions such as insurance), family contributions or other income sources that occur regularly on a monthly basis. Then, enter your periodic income. Periodic income happens occasionally during the year. If you have a side job or if you typically receive a bonus, list those amounts as well.

Expenses: We classify types of expenses as fixed and discretionary. A fixed expense is an expense that is static and recurring. Insurance premiums and rent or mortgage payments are examples. A discretionary expense is something that varies month-to-month or can be reduced if necessary.

To obtain your expenses, review your bank and credit card statements. It is best to have the average of the last three months. The easiest option is to review annual statements from credit cards and banks who will have already categorized your expenditures for the previous year. If you have access to only what you spent last month that is still a good start. Use the numbers you have access to for now and step 3 will give you more accurate information in the future.

Savings: Your savings consist of all income that is not used to pay for your expenses. Examples of savings include retirement savings at work, a brokerage account, an HSA account or a Roth IRA. If you have goals you want to save for, such as a house down payment or a vacation, add a line item for them and enter your annual savings goal into the budget column.

Spending Category Goals: The Goal % is an excellent way to know if you are spending too much on any one cash flow category. Review the goal % column, compared to where your current category %'s are. In your budget, reduce spending in areas that are over the goal % and reallocate to areas that are under the goal %. Most importantly make sure your cash flow has either a surplus or is neutral ($0 at the end of the month). If your cash flow is negative, set guidelines on where you will cut expenses in the budget column.

Budget: Once the annual total is calculated, you can manually create your budget by typing your revised total in the total budget column. If you do not update this column, it will be equal to the annual total column. If you want to spend more or less in a specific category, enter that dollar amount in the column associated. Example: You spend $1,000 a year on gifts, and you want to reduce that to $500 a year, type $500 into the budget column for that expense. You can update this at any time if your budget changes. Note that the budget column is an annual total.

Step 2 - Create a FLEX Plan

The third tab, creating a flex plan, is optional but helpful for people trying to reduce overall lifestyle spending while not feeling deprived. The flex plan lets you strategize ways to create a cash plan for sticking to FLEX expenses.

You will see a monthly and weekly total at the bottom of Step 2. Once the FLEX money is gone, you are done spending in those categories until the following month.

This can be set up in many ways. Traditionally this is a Cash Only method, like the envelope system, and you can take out weekly or monthly cash to pay your expenses. You can also set up a separate checking account that you fund with the weekly or monthly total and use a debit card only. Try it out and determine what works best for you.

Step 3 - Track Your Expenses Monthly

Now that you know what your current spending is and you have a budget set, stay on track by filling out step 3 monthly. Review your expenses to see your successes and pitfalls each month, then adjust your plan as needed.

If you are a PWR client, we can review this spending sheet with you and use it to build your financial plan and annual updates.

If you want help with building your budget and using this spreadsheet, reach out to us at hello@planningwithinreach.com

Planning Within Reach, LLC (PWR) is a fee-only and fiduciary wealth management firm offering one-time comprehensive financial planning, ongoing impact-focused investment management and tax preparation services in San Diego and nationwide. PWR is a woman-owned firm that specializes in busy professionals and impact investors. Planning Within Reach, LLC and their advisors do not receive commissions and do not hold any insurance licenses or brokerage relationships.