how to budget and *actually* save money 💸 how I track + plan my spending (budgeting for beginners) 💰

[@Emily-in5ll]

Ive been using the coplenty yearly 2.0 spreadsheet for about 3 months and getting serious about tracking my spending. I never thought I would be able to save $1000, but now i have $3000 in my savings account and it keeps growing every week. It has been so rewarding to take control over my finances and feel powerful about my money. Thank you, Ella for your down to earth and encouraging videos. You truly opened up a whole new world for me and i am so so grateful 💕

[@smileycitrus]

oh my goodness, you should be so proud 🥹💕 thank you so much for sharing lovely!

[@williamwarren9448]

Good for you ! I didn’t find real budgeting till I was in my 50s ! Awesome you are set up for life ! Glenda

[@riyaakohlii]

OMG, I have waited for this video for so so sooooo long, love to see a women talking about finances♥♥♥

[@smileycitrus]

ahh thank you for your patience!! hope you enjoyed 🤍

[@angelhope2177]

Love opening youtube and seeing a new vid, always brightens my day 😊

[@smileycitrus]

aw hope you enjoy 🥰

[@aliceglenane8774]

I would love to see a video of how you manage your business accounts x

[@deer_erika]

Can I just say - this has always been something i dreaded doing - facing my bills etc as I always thought "i always have extra anyway" --- i just started doing the spread sheet tonight, and man, what an eyeopener. I've been following you an instagram for a while. I've finally plucked up the courage to start. What an eye opener. It's scary but also quite refreshing in terms of mindset change! Please do more of this, beause clearly it's making a huge difference!!! (especially for us millenials).

[@Treeeenah]

OMG thankyou for explaining the -500 for capturing savings you bring back in to spend. Ive been doing a weird double handling of capturing transfers back from savings as income and it messes with so many things!!! The negative seems so obvious now, even though its a negative, its actually a + to your balance 😂 Appreciate your no fuss explanations!

[@Treeeenah]

How do you record transfers from friends/family to reimburse for a payment you made. Or like a medicare refund? Also with a negative to that same expense type?

[@smileycitrus]

you're so welcome!! honestly had no idea until recently either and now it seems so obvious 😂

[@smileycitrus]

I usually go back and adjust the transaction so it's just what i've paid, if that makes sense?

[@briellecamiolo512]

you have seriously changed my life, thank you!!!

[@smileycitrus]

omg you're so welcome!! 🥹

[@michellesobiech8463]

Immediately purchased the spreadsheet from their US Etsy shop. Thanks so much for the discount, guidance & encouragement!

[@smileycitrus]

I hope you enjoy using it 🥰

[@amberbethany7365]

Just downloaded a coplenty budget spreadsheet and setting it all up now along with you in this video!!! Thank you so much for your content. Loving it ✨

[@smileycitrus]

you're so welcome!! hope you love it 💕

[@hxtr.x]

Love your vids! Can you please share how you structure your bank accounts and what money goes where? Do you have different banks etc. & if you have any tips for people who struggle with spending and feel like they need to save every dollar.

[@danawilksss]

I just purchased the spreadsheet as I'm 27 and my partner and I have just moved back into my parents because I can't save to save my life (no pun intended) and I am so excited to get this and properly understand how to budget and save!! Thank you so much for this video, have been looking for something like this foreverrrrr

[@smileycitrus]

best of luck ❤️

[@rachelwilson6623]

Hey Ella! Using the coplenty yearly 2.0 for the first time and wondering if you have any advice for how to add savings you already have into the spreadsheet so that it can show it accumulating and not starting from zero? Thank you, love the vids 🥰

[@smileycitrus]

Hi! I just add it as misc income to begin with so that it balances 🥰

[@Mah_fb]

This video is great! And the spreadsheet really helps I bought 2 already that are broken so I can never track the entire year and end up going back to my pen and paper. Thanks

[@AestheticBudgets]

just obsessed with your videos!! 🤍

[@smileycitrus]

thank you so much!! 🥹💕

[@TheMissShivi]

How did you set up the savings/debt tracker tab? Like to show the money you already had in your bank account? I feel like that's where I messed up with mine. My 'left to spend' is in the negatives because some of my transactions for big purchases were using money I already had in savings(ie. from before I started tracking on the spreadsheet) so it looks like I'm in the negative but I'm really not. I have lots of 'buckets' in my Up bank account, some for set goals(such as an emergency fund, house fund which I did add under Savings) and others are more short term or used as sinking funds(ie. I have a Beauty account that I transfer XX amount to each paycheck). Just wasn't sure how to have that represented in the spreadsheet. I think I'm just going to have to start again from scratch with a new spreadsheet :') Edit: I also use the round-up feature in Up, which further complicates things 🤣

[@miscellaneousmabel]

The yearly 2.0 spreadsheet has changed the game for me.

[@RuebenNomura]

Good morning from Hawaii good tip on saving money on this video

[@AlexMarshall-w4g]

Have you made a video about how much you spent on your wedding and how much in each area!?

[@smileycitrus]

yes I have!!

[@kayla_bowler]

Hi!! Love watching your videos! I just started my channel a couple of months ago and your videos have given me so much inspiration. Do you do anything special to retain the quality of your screen recording when you post? Mine always get just slightly grainy

[@smileycitrus]

Hi lovely! thank you!! I don't! I just screen record in Quicktime and import directly into Final Cut Pro x

[@kayla_bowler]

@@smileycitrus ok what I'm hearing is capcut is the problem, not me 😂

[@rebeccaSAHMRI]

love iit! When you paid money into your bills account, you overrode the actual tab - won't that skew the transactions tab? Just trying to figure out the best way for me to set these systems up half way through using this spreadsheet 😂

[@smileycitrus]

you can do either or! just don't do both 😅

[@edwardleecaliforniausa]

Hi Ella how are you happy Wednesday night to you and I enjoy your channel and you are amazing supporter

[@smileycitrus]

Thank you! You too!

[@itskarlii]

hard boiled egg energy sent me 🤣🤣🤣

[@blueeyedbraniac]

Can I ask how you use this spreadsheet with multiple bank accounts? For example if you have a business bank account and a personal bank account how do you differentiate on here?

[@smileycitrus]

I keep my business accounts seperate! for personal use, we only have 3 accounts: bills, savings and just general spending so it's easy to track on the spreadsheet e.g. if I put $200 towards electricity, i'll transfer to bills acct. If I put $500 in savings, I transfer into savings and whatever is left is in our spending account. Hope that makes sense!

[@blueeyedbraniac]

@@smileycitrus Do you use a different spreadsheet for business purposes?

[@smileycitrus]

@blueeyedbraniac yes! it's completely seperate 🙂‍↕️

[@KDowling-w1w]

I have just started using Coplently Yearly 2.0 and liking it so far. Can I ask how do you record a transaction made on a credit card? ie. do you record it as 20 coffee (category) or 20 NAB Credit card (category) so you know how much to pay towards credit card. Thanks

[@smileycitrus]

Hi! I just do $20 coffee because I pay it off in full every month ☺️ the money may stay in my account until it's due but it's technically not my money, if that makes sense? Just helps me keep track that way and not spend more $$ than we have x

[@reeghandebono9303]

When you’re tracking your bills, when the actual bill comes out of bank account, do you track it in your expenses?

[@smileycitrus]

no! I just track when I put the money into my bills account ☺️

[@marisadavid8883]

Purchase the coplenty 2.0 basic to try out

[@aicelramos6142]

Hi just wondering how did you add the checklist and emoji in excel? was it a formula?

[@smileycitrus]

hi! the checklist comes with the template (the yearly 2.0) and I added the emojis with my keyboard (you can google the command)

[@BriBri0218]

How do you carry over the left to spend money?! I duplicate the tabs for each month but I think I’m doing it wrong 😢

[@marissawendt]

i have a question on your spreadsheet (i use the same) I'd love to know, how do you fix up your numbers each month? for some reason my numbers are not exact in my spreadsheet when it comes to the totals. I think it gets messy bc my husband and i share bank accounts and if he runs out of money he will just take from our savings so it gets confusing when i'm trying to add up the transactions ie. I'll transfer $1000 into savings He transfers $50 $250 $37 into his account then spends it on groceries, fuel etc. So I get so frustrated on how to fix up the numbers. Any tips on how to simplify the mess? I've thought of giving him more $ ofcourse (giving as in i transfer it to him) however i find if he sees more $ in the account he'll just spend more. help!

[@Danassite]

hey, :( how can i download it to my desktop excel sheet, i don't like using google drive :(

[@smileycitrus]

it's just for google sheets

[@minavu474]

Hi Ella! Thank you for the video. I always have a question and it would be great if you can share your thoughts. So we use credit cards for 90% of our expenses (except for items we have to use chequeing account like mortgage). And we pay them off. But does that mean we pay off the expenses of the previous month? Like I would budget September but then then September paycheque is to pay off credit cards which I used for August expenses? I hope that makes sense. Other wise, we would technically need a month ahead expense? Thank you!

[@smileycitrus]

Hi! we just track and budget for whatever month we're in because even though we've put it on a CC we still owe it, regardless of when it's due. Hope that makes sense!

[@Samantha_Nol]

@@smileycitrus Hi Ella - I have the same question as above and still a bit confused! We have a CC for the points aswell, but I'm getting so confused on how to track it. So for example in September the bill for the previous period (22 July - 22 August) is due on September 5th. Do I put that payment (paying in full) in my September expenses, or do I just track the 22 July - 22 August purchases within the July and August period and dont worry about when its paid? Even though we need to make sure we have the money there on September 5th for the payment? So effectively just tracking the transactions on the CC in the month which they occur and dont worry about putting the payment in the spreadsheet as an expense. Hopefully that makes sense! :)

[@smileycitrus]

@@Samantha_Nol Hi! because we pay it off in full every month I disregard when the credit card payment actually comes out ☺️ we just track what we've spent in the month we're in and pay it off when it's due. We've been deducting our spending from the spreadsheet as the month goes so money is just sitting in our account ready to go!

[@Samantha_Nol]

@@smileycitrus perfect, thanks Ella! It made more sense as I started typing it to ask you (standard overthinker) but just wanted to be sure :)

[@JM-ig2rk]

I was a bit shook by the f bomb at the start,apart from that I enjoy your videos 👍🏽

[@kelliehudson5371]

I love the f bombs!

[@missjaclynlouise]

What’s the difference between 2.0 and 3.0 spreadsheet

[@smileycitrus]

there's a comparison on the website x

[@katelyncahill9930]

Hey! whats the diary that you use for the thumbnail???? is it for budgeting too?? xoxox

[@smileycitrus]

it has a budget section! it's called the Steph Pase life planner x

[@shelbiem307]

Can you see/use this spreadsheet on a cell phone? I don’t have a computer and want to have a mobile option to track on.

[@smileycitrus]

yes! as long as you have the Google Sheets app x

[@shelbiem307]

@@smileycitrus thank you!

[@noahfii]

We have started using this at the start if August this year. How do you imput your 'left to spend' in Jan 2025? Like, it is not zero as December just happened but there doesnt seem to be a logical place to put your 'starting' funds if that makes sense.

[@noahfii]

Thanks Ella for the video also! 😊

[@jasmentrinh]

Hi Ella! I'm also having the same problem. I started using this sheet in June and my left to spend is completely out of whack because in June we had a high spend month and spent more than our income but it didn't make sense to put the amount we already had in our spending account because it wasn't actually income from that month.

[@smileycitrus]

Hi! you'll have to list whatever the difference in your account as "rollover" or misc income ☺️

[@smileycitrus]

I list it as "rollover" or misc income on the first month

[@SarahSchofield-f8h]

I have the V2.0 but it doesnt have the annual tracker???

[@smileycitrus]

do you have the Yearly 2.0?

[@elizabeththompson1525]

Do you make more money now without your travel agent job doing full-time content creation? Do you spend more money now, not having a 9 to 5?

[@smileycitrus]

It depends on the month! but overall yes because I have more time to make content and say yes to more opportunities ☺️ I've tried to keep my spending the same as when I worked a 9-5

[@elizabeththompson1525]

@@smileycitrus you are goals!!

[@moonmother.]

💖💖💖

[@UneakTershai]

I feel like any meals not cooked at home are considered eating out

[@smileycitrus]

that's fair! I like to get more detailed and distinguish between the two ☺️

[@annbeth6730]

I’ll leave it

[@graceisabella3428]

Thank you so much for everything you do and your financial transparency, it’s personally helping me a lot 🩷

[@smileycitrus]

oh i'm so glad 🥹💕