Check
your spending with a simple profit and loss account
Profit and loss accounts are used by people who run their own
businesses, but you can use one to check your spending.
A profit and loss account is just a way of
comparing your income (what you earn) with your expenditure
(what you spend).
You just write down what you earn in one column,
write what you spend in another, and the difference between the amounts
is what you should have left in your pocket.
There are several steps to using a profit
and loss account:
Step 1 Print the
profit and loss account sheet at the bottom of this page
by printing this complete page. Press the 'print' button
on your browser to print this page, obviously you will need
a printer attached and switched on.
Step 2 Carry a note book
with you at all times and write down everything you earn or spend
(without notes it's easy to forget things).
Step 3
At the end of each day, week, or month, use your notes to
write down your earning and spending on the account sheet.
Work out your totals with a calculator.
Step 4
If you are comfortable with IT you could download
the account sheet and work on it on-screen (you must
have Microsoft Excel installed to work this way). That way
it will do the calculations for you or print the page (see
below).
Profit and loss account sheet
Print this account sheet page
and fill in the details by hand, ordownload
the account sheet and type in the figures on screen if you
want the sheet to do the calculations for you. You must
have Microsoft Excel installed to download the account sheet and
work on screen interactively.
