Three sheets, no more
Raw columns: Date, Payee, Category, Amount, Account, Note. Amount is signed: expenses negative or a Type column with IN/OUT — pick one religion and keep it. Lists is a single column of allowed categories for data validation. Month is categories down, months across, SUMIFS in every cell, and a total row that must match SUM(Raw[Amount]) for that month.
Import the bank
Download CSV. Open with UTF-8. Map columns. Delete the bank’s advertising footer rows. Categorize 20 rows by hand so you remember the rules (“Starbucks = Coffee not Shopping”). Then fill down. If you hate categorizing, that is the whole job; a template will not do it.
Rules that save marriages and treasurers
- Do not mix credit-card payments and the underlying purchases as two expenses. The payment is a transfer.
- Cash: a weekly ATM row, or you will invent fiction.
- Shared accounts: a Who column, not a color.
- Protect Month. Leave Raw unlocked.
Chart
A stacked bar of categories per month is enough. Pie charts of 18 slices are a joke. Put the known-good total in a box on the dashboard. If it disagrees with the bank’s month-end, you missed a row — the chart is not the truth, the SUM is.
Spreadsheet guide · CSV · formulas.
Year view
A fourth sheet Year can SUM the Month grid. Do not start adding Year formulas that point at Raw with different criteria — two sources of truth will drift. Month is the only aggregation. Year is a view. If you need a rolling 12 months, still read from Month, not a second SUMIFS religion.
Shared club money
Treasurer owns Raw. Others get a PDF of Month. If two people type in Raw, you get duplicate pizza rows. A monthly lock: after the meeting, protect Raw and export PDF minutes. CSV import for the bank, not typing from a phone screenshot.