Suggestions on my spreadsheet?

[GFer]

No suggestions???

[Anonymous]

I'd love to offer some suggestions or critiques, but to be honest (and I REALLY hope I'm not alone here), I have no FREAKING idea how to use Excel!! I have the app on my Mac (only because I sometimes have to do raw data entry to help hubby in his projects) but what I know about it could fit on the head of a pin!!

I DID open it and it looks great, though. Now if you can only come up with a tutorial that someone like me could understand ...

Anyone else here NOT on a first name basis with Excel???

[Anonymous]

Wonderin wrote:
I'd love to offer some suggestions or critiques, but to be honest (and I REALLY hope I'm not alone here), I have no FREAKING idea how to use Excel!! I have the app on my Mac (only because I sometimes have to do raw data entry to help hubby in his projects) but what I know about it could fit on the head of a pin!!

I DID open it and it looks great, though. Now if you can only come up with a tutorial that someone like me could understand ...

Anyone else here NOT on a first name basis with Excel???

Okay...if my memory serves me correctly the Microsoft website offers free online tutorials for most of its products.  I used the Microsoft Word tutorial that is/was available at no charge on Microsoft's website.  The tutorial was easy to follow.  The Microsoft site offers a ton of valuable info. 

Looks like I might need to use the Excel tutorial also, because my knowledge of Excel is smaller than a grain of sand!  A spreadsheet would sure make this task a lot easier!

[haulingthescoreup]

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@GFer wrote:

Okay, it's improving. But I think I have two problems. One; I don't understand completely what is included in utility (so I computed revolving seperate from other credit, then totaled those totals.

Two; I think I may be making this more complicated than it is??

Feedback?

I'd rather it be more useful than pretty...(both would be nice, though!).

Forgot to ask: H62 (Large red question mark...how to compute this?).

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Excel and I aren't friends, so I'll have to sit down with a beer (or four) and cuss my way through your worksheet, but for the util: revolving and installment are calculated separately. So you'll need one column for revolving util, and a second one for installment util. Don't total them --they're treated independently.

And as TNWM said, it's not "utility." (That can really lead to confusion later! ) Util or utilization means how much of your available credit you are utilizing at any given time.

I've been looking for a way of tracking my credit, now that it's getting kinda unwieldy, so I'm going to run my numbers through your sheet, I hope some time this evening. Thanks for posting this!

[GFer]

Utility---I knew what it meant, but have a habit of using acronyms or shorter versions for spreadsheets with many columns (for space purposes). I did change it on the sheet to say 'utilization', though.

HTSU: So while fico does 'score' installment utility, it's scores separately than revovling? I kind of thought so, but wasn't completely sure.

I was trying to make a sheet that could be used strictly for baddies. Sometimes I think I try too hard and wind up making it more difficult than it has to be. I dunno.

Just wanted something that would basically show everything you needed (all on one sheet) for each individual purpose.

For example:

Overall debt

Baddie sheet for us rebuilders when we're working on those things

Account sheet for those of us who start accumulating a lot of accounts!

etc

FYI everyone; I did add some links to Excel tutorials that I knew of and a link to the page on Microsoft for the 60 day trial of Microsoft Office, because I realize not everyone has Office.

Hope those help.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I'm going to play around with this. Thanks so much! Great idea! I love using excel but hate setting up the formulas. Thanks for doing the hard part!

[improving]

Hi GFer,

Regarding your question about the H62 calculation - you are referring to the Equity, right? The one column missing that would really be needed for Equity is FMV (Fair Market Value). Since homes generally appreciate over time, equity would be Balance/FMV. It may also be referred to as LTV % - Loan to Value Percentage. This makes sense for both autos and mortgages, but not for student loans. Don't know if this helps at all.  Nicely done, though. Also, you can right-click on a cell (such as a header for a column) and choose Insert Comment. That will add a little triangle to the upper corner of the cell to indicate that there is a comment attached and when you mouse over it, it will show the comment. This is useful for inline documentation.

[Anonymous]

I love the spreadsheet, btw, have had it for a couple of weeks, thanks so much, GFer!!  Have passed it on to a few people, as well!  (Anybody who has received a spreadsheet from me in the past couple of weeks, THIS is the member to thank for that resource!!)

One thing I would love to see is a place for creditor's contact info and maybe the last time they contacted me.  My plan was to insert a comment (explained below ~ thank you, improving!).  I figured I would insert the comment in the creditor's name cell and, for me, being able to track when I last received a letter or call from them may help for more than one reason:

a-  I have stacks of unopened mail from BEFORE I decided to take control of the situation

b- If I should ever need to provide a harrassment (or contact) log, then I've got it available

I still don't have everything entered on the spreadsheet, but I am working on it!

BTW ~ if you don't have Excel, you can always download OpenOffice, which is a FREE open source suite, compatible with Microsoft Office.  It will open MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., documents.  Just google "OpenOffice"

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 Also, you can right-click on a cell (such as a header for a column) and choose Insert Comment. That will add a little triangle to the upper corner of the cell to indicate that there is a comment attached and when you mouse over it, it will show the comment. This is useful for inline documentation.

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[GFer]

Okay...still working on it. I added a couple of more sheets. One for baddies that includes the working process' such as DV, MOV, PFD, etc.

I also formatted each sheet for best printing capabilities if anyone needed it. The only thing is, if an individual doesn't want to print in color; all you would have to do is make sure to set your printer to print in black and white. That's how I usually print.

I like the colors int he spreadsheets simply, because they make the separate areas stand out.

I haven't fixed the questionable formulas yet. But I think most of us worried about revolving anyhow. I will get to that soon.

Thank you for the feed back and the comments. Both are appreciated!