Please help me demystify this spreadsheet

December 2, 2018 9:56 AM

I'm trying to make use of a budgeting spreadsheet given to me by my employee assistance program, but the financial advisor didn't give me instructions on how to fill it out.

I'm trying to make use of a budgeting spreadsheet given to me by my employee assistance program, but the financial advisor didn't give me instructions on how to fill it out.

The first step is to determine how much we're spending. I know these numbers, but I don't know how to put them in the spreadsheet. There are 26 columns labelled 1-26 along with a column that lists expense types. I asked him if these were the days of the month, but he won't explain it to me with out making another appointment.

Is this a standard budgeting or financial planning thing? What does 26 columns mean? I honestly don't know.

All the appointments are done over the phone. I want to make the best use of my limited appointment times and sitting on the phone filling out a spreadsheet would not be useful to me. TIA.

posted by Calzephyr to Work & Money (2 answers total)

Best answer: Are you paid biweekly? (Every other week). It’s probably one column for each pay period. So put your expenses for each 2 week period somewhere.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 10:22 AM on December 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Well dang! That makes total sense, yes I am paid bi-weekly and would have 26 pay periods. Thank you SO MUCH for your moment of time which has saved me many moments of time :-)
posted by Calzephyr at 10:37 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]