What better way to hold yourself accountable and motivate you so save, than tracking your savings? Last year I created an Excel worksheet that I used to track our monthly savings at the 5 major stores I shop at.
At the bottom of this post I have shared out a blank worksheet for you to copy and use if you wish. Let me give you a quick tour of the worksheet.
There are 7 separate tabs. The first one is a Totals page. The rest are specific stores. I have them set up to track the following stores:
- Publix
- CVS
- Walgreens
- Target
- Walmart
- Miscellaneous (Combination of stores I shopped at like Home Depot and JoAnn Fabrics)
You can relabel them for the stores you use frequently. You will not have to enter any information on the Totals Page, it will automatically fill in when the store tabs are updated. The only information you will need to enter is the date, the OOP and Savings on the store tabs that are highlighted in green.
It will total the months for you and autofill the Totals Page. In the comments section I list key items from that particular shopping trip. Sometimes it’s nice seeing how long it had been since I bought coffee creamer! On the miscellaneous page, I list the store and what I bought.
Several things I learned from tracking our savings this way. Publix was easy to enter because the receipt is easy to read and very straight forward. Target was difficult. The receipt shows savings, but it’s usually only coupon savings. It does not include clearance savings for instance. I learned in the first 2 months that I didn’t save very much money at Walmart! So I started avoiding that store altogether. It’s also a bit of a drive for me so it was easy to eliminate. I realized I was bad at picking up ‘impulse items’ at Walmart.
Savings Worksheet in Excel or the Savings Worksheet Google Doc. Save a copy for yourself and make any changes that you want. Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be posting my monthly savings and I’d love to hear yours! Let’s do a little bragging. :)
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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you!! I was thinking of creating my own or doing something to better track my savings for 2011. This is perfect!!
Great Darcy! Let me know how it works out for you. I’m looking forward to sharing savings with everyone monthly.
Thanks for the sweet comment.
Karen
Thanks Karen … this is fantastic! This will be very helpful. What does OOP stand for? Thanks so much!
Hey Heather,
OOP Stands for Out of Pocket. It’s the amount of money you actually paid out of your wallet.
My FAQ page may help: http://savingthefamilymoney.com/faq/
Great job! I like this one better than the one I was using!
This is so cool. Can tell you must have spent a long time on this. We are going to be tracking our spending and seeing if we can stay on budget. This will be a feel good tool to help us reach our goals. Thanks
Thank you so much for this. It’ll give me more incentive to save money.
This is great! I was going to ask my daughter to create something for me, I’m in ahh when she works with excel, but this is ready to use!
Thank you!
Thanks Karen! I should’ve used something like this last year.
Could you please email it to me, I wont let me save it for some reason. Thanks
I can not get this to save. i have been trying for over an hr ahhhhhhh. is there another way for me to get this to work? let me know
thanks
I randomly found your blog through southernsavers and found this right away – how perfect, I was just going to start creating my own!
I’ve just started couponing, so I’m trying to get the hang of all of this. Quick question… when you put in the savings for CVS, do you include the ECB that you earned as savings? For example, today my reciept said I saved $19.04. This amount included $5 of ECB that I used. But then I received $14 in ECB. Not sure how I should take this into account. Do I just wait until I use them to take it into account?
Hey Kristen,
Excellent question. I do not take ECB’s into account until I redeem them. So If I gained $10 in ECB’s today, I ignore them in my spreadsheet. Then when I do use them, that’s when I calculate it.
Hope that helps! Thanks for coming over and leaving a comment.
Karen
Thanks Karen! I’ve been reading a lot of couponing blogs and all you guys do such a great job of explaining everything! I did my first big shopping trip yesterday at Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods and Bi-Lo. We got $199.96 worth of stuff for $134.20. Not too bad for a first timer!
That is awesome Kristen! Every little bit helps the budget. I wish I had a Harris Teeter here. I hear their double/triple coupon days are awesome!
I love this document, but I’ve noticed that some of the cells don’t calculate which means they won’t auto-populate in the totals tab. I love Excel but am clueless to formulas within them, is it possible to add more rows within a month to accommodate multiple transactions? I’d also love to know how to add more tabs because I shop at many stores but don’t know how. Is there a simple site to help with this or is it just something you have to know? HELP!
I just started using this spreadsheet and I LOVE it… thanks!! Quick question, how do you factor in rebates?
I don’t factor in rebates until I get them in the mail. So if I get a $10 Gift Card from Publix for a rebate, then I just take it off the transaction that I used it on.
Hope that helps!
What about a cash rebate (ie. Rite Aid Single Check Rebate)? Do you just deduct it off the receipt that has the purchase?
Thank you for posting this!!! I saved $155 in my first month of couponing!!
I tried to open this in excel, it only shows the Publix one and it is not even the whole spreadsheet. Is there any way you can email it to me?
Andrea,
Once you have the document open try hitting “view” and then “full Screen” you should then be able to see the tabs at the bottom of the page for the other stores.
Let me know if that doesn’t work.
Thanks for the worksheet…saves me time. Really appreciate all that you do.
Thanks Joan
Love this..thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for sharing the spreadsheet!! I am new to couponing and in the first 3 days I saved $120!! I am excited to track my savings and watch them grow!!
Karen, My hubby just got me a new MacBook and I can’t figure how to make this spreadsheet work with the Microsoft Excel for the Mac …is there a trick? Is it not possible?
I’m having the same problem too with my Mac as well. My percentage savings is not reading correctly and I don’t know how and what to do.
Pa, I just replied to Brenda that I created this document on my Macbook so I’m not really sure what the problem is. Try using the Google doc instead maybe.
Can you give me the formula for the % save for publix and I’ll go from there. Thanks.
This is the Formula for one row =SUM(C45/B45)
It will change based off of the row #row you are on. But typically I do 1 formula and copy into all the rest of the column and it changes the row #’s automatically. Hope that helps.
Brenda, I created this document on my Macbook so I’m not really sure what the problem is.
Thanks. I was able to input the formula in there now, but didn’t understand the percentage. Do your percentages exceed 100%. Mine are coming at like 67%-303%. Not sure if this is accurate.
haha…I think I’m reading it wrong…Its on the first Totals Table…
Also, another question. By reading the receipt, how do you know your total before coupons and savings after coupons? I feel brain dead right now.
I only input the savings, and my out of pocket (OOP), the columns in Green, the worksheet does the total before coupons for me based on those numbers
I’m not sure but mine is just not filling it in for me. I input the OOP and savings on the green column, but doesn’t seem to work.
Thanks for sharing this spreadsheet! I added a Winn Dixie tab since I shop there as well.
Does anyone know why I purchase some items and they are on sale and I pay the sale price, but the receipt doesn’t show the amount I saved on them? Just yesterday I purchased a file at Wal-Mart and it was regularly $2.96 but was on sale for $2.50 right now. Shouldn’t my receipt show that I saved $0.46 at the bottom? Thanks!
Jessica it just depends on how your store is set up. Target drives me crazy b/c a clearance item will ring up new price, but the difference is not included in the “savings” at the bottom.
You might just have to get in the habit of noting what stores to be more observant in. Publix receipts are the best!
I love this! The one I’ve been using just has totals this helps me better by store!
I was thinking of making one of these myself,…thanks for your work! I look forward to giving this a try!
Just of note…If you use a raincheck at Publix, they do not include those savings in their receipt breakdown. You will have to add it into the savings yourself.
Couponing for me is not just a necessity. It is a challenge!
In the past four months, I have cut my household expenses by a third but I’m still learning. I did a savings sheet but not as good as yours. I tried to print out yours but was unsuccessful. Can you email me one so I can save it and copy for my use?
For your savings spreadsheet, do you use the “Your Savings at Publix” number, which includes the Special Price Savings, or do you just use the total from Store Coupon and Vendor Coupon?
I use the entire savings section. Because the special savings is still an item on sale.
Hope that helps
Yes, thank you!
My question is why when I add more rows to a store, it will not calculate anymore. I know to add extra rows and highlight the entire row and then go to the far right and get the + and pull down, but no matter what I try, it just will not continue to calculate. I am using google docs.
Please help me with this!!
I see your blog is on Wordpress, why can’t I find it to follow?