5 . In cell C4 , enter the following : Per Month . 6 . In cell D3 , enter the following : Actual Amount . 7 . In cell D4 , enter the following : July . 8 . In cell E3 , enter the following : Difference . 9 . In cell E4 , enter the following : ( Better / Worse ) Be sure to expand the columns so that the contents don ’ t overlap the adjacent columns . At this point , this is what your spreadsheet should look like :
The following set of instructions will build your line items list : 10 . In cell A5 , enter the following : Salary 11 . In cell A6 , enter the following : Federal Taxes 12 . In cell A7 , enter the following : State Taxes 13 . In cell A8 , enter the following : Available Income 14 . Leave cell A9 blank . Leave all other cells in row 9 blank 15 . In cell A10 , enter the following : Living Expenses : Rent / utilities / groceries / phone 16 . In cell A11 through A14 , use the example below to determine what should be entered . 17 . In cell A15 , enter the following : Total Expenses 18 . Leave cell A16 blank , and leave all other cells in row 16 blank . 19 . In cell A17 , enter the following : Savings This is what you should see in your line items list :
Next , let ’ s add the Factors : 20 . In cell B6 , enter the following : 15 % 21 . In cell B7 , enter the following : 5 % 22 . Leave all other cells in column B blank This is how it should appear :
The following set of instructions will help you create formulas in your spreadsheet . Excel has built in formulas to make calculating data easier . Formulas always begin with the equal sign (=) which tells Excel that a formula is being entered . 23 . In cell C5 , enter the following : 4000 24 . In cell C6 , enter the following : =+ B6 * C5 Entering this formula will tell Excel to multiply the 15 % federal tax rate within cell B6 by the $ 4,000 monthly amount in C5 , which will return a $ 600 federal tax cost . 25 . In cell C7 , enter the following : =+ B7 * C5 Entering this formula will tell Excel to multiply the 5 % state tax rate within cell B7 by the $ 4,000 monthly amount in C5 , which will return a $ 200 state tax cost . 26 . In cell C8 , enter the following : =+ C5-C6-C7 Entering this formula will tell Excel to subtract the federal and state tax amounts from the salary amount to determine the monthly available income of $ 3,200 after taxes . Continue with the following instructions to enter the remaining data and