Tracking My Bills and Expenses with Google Sheets

_{Contest has already ended, but I told myself I will still post this one because I'm broque and a masochist. Plus, it's a waste if I will not finish what I've started.}

I came from a not-well-off family, but my parents taught me since first grade to save money. I remember saving my allowance and money my father gave to me, and I was able to buy a necklace in fifth grade. No wonder I was skinny until college because I didn't like spending my allowance. I saved and used it whenever my parents couldn't give me an allowance.

When I started working, I learned how to budget bills and expenses. I used to write it in my notebook, and my mother would say to stop writing it, or else I will get frustrated. Well, even if I don't write it, the family debts will always haunt me even in sleep. Until now, I try to budget and calculate everything to project when is the probable date my family is debt free.

I am lucky to have a boyfriend and a previous team lead who taught me more about tracking my finances, savings, emergency fund, and stuff like that. Also, my boyfriend introduced me to Google Sheets. I used it for a couple of months only - old habits are hard to die. But when I realized my bills and expenses were piling up and that am wasting paper/trees, I decided to use Sheets again. I budget everything three weeks before my payday. So yes, I budget my next salary, a week after I received my current salary.

Every 10th of the month is my payday. I usually like to let my salary sleep in my bank account for a few days. It makes me feel like I'm rich and don't have responsibilities. But it's exam week for my sister in college, so I needed to send her money for her tuition, worth 5,600 PHP.

My parents are in charge of her allowances, but I decided to give her an additional 400 PHP. Also, she's no longer commuting for an hour since she's living in a boarding house near her school, so it's good enough already for a week. I also gave 300 PHP each to the other two sisters. Aside from that, I paid for the internet (1,399 PHP) and the electric bills at home and to my grandma's house, worth a total of 2606.03 PHP.

I also ordered food for my friend since he didn't want to accept my payment for his service of editing the three certificates. I ordered Cookie Crumble Frappe, Tuna Carbonara, and Nachos. And from 438 PHP, I paid 328 PHP only since I availed of a voucher with a 100 PHP discount.

These are all partial bills and expenses I had in two days only, and I paid 10,933 PHP already. I still have bills to pay on the 15th, 21st, and 27th. Also, expenses are mostly for my family and furbabies. If I buy something for myself, it's either books or food. I'm in a work-from-home setup that's why I don't buy clothes or shoes.

Ever since I started working, I've been struggling with my finances. But the struggle doubled for a couple of months already. My debts were piling up because I was in Dora mode from May to July. I had to travel to Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, and back to Manila. The fare and plane tickets no doubt cost me so much. But the main reasons were my review and the tuition fees of my two sisters in college. I would always complain their one-year tuition is equivalent to my tuition fee for five years in college.

But I'm hopeful I will be back on track now that I no longer am reviewing and my second sister graduated last July. Though she will be taking a review class for her board exam by next year, I still have enough time to breathe.

I remember the team building of my first job, where the host gave us two choices - a plaque of recognition or a cash gift. It was my first job and was at the company for a month. The young me answered the plaque of recognition because it serves as a memory that I did a good job. But now, given that I cannot pawn the plague, I will now choose the latter.