The Many Uses of Microsoft Excel and Why It’s a Skill You Should Learn

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

When people think of Microsoft Excel, they usually think of spreadsheets, finances, and maybe working in an office. After all, most people don’t have a use for spreadsheets at home unless they’re working from home or running some kind of business.

But did you know that Excel can be used for so many amazing things even if you’re not working in an office or in finance? Excel has some cool features that make it simple to use, and there are countless different ways to incorporate it into your daily activities and lifestyle. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the many practical uses of Excel from a regular person’s perspective and why it’s a skill that you should learn.

Tracking Your Expenses

Keeping track of your expenses is a pretty normal way to use Excel, but it’s also one of the most practical and helpful things you could do. Sure, you can easily track your finances by just looking at your bank statements, but if you have multiple banks or just want a cleaner and more detailed look at your expenses, then you can start using Excel.

We suggest looking for free Excel templates to help you track your expenses. Once you’ve found a template that you like, import it into your Excel and then you can start filling it in. However, making your spreadsheet is fairly simple too, especially if you know what you want to track.

To differentiate this style of expense tracking from just looking at your bank statements, here are some additional things you could add:

• Color coding your expenses based on things like bills, entertainment, food, and so on.
• Adding reasons for your purchases so you can get a better idea of why you’re spending.
• Setting a monthly budget and then subtracting those expenses so you can see how much you’re spending based on disposable income.
• Adding links to the websites or stores that you’re buying from so you know what businesses your money is going to.

These are just a few ideas on how to customize your expense tracking spreadsheet. Remember that everyone tracks their outgoing money for their reasons. Some people just want to see how much they’re spending, and others want to try and identify ways to save money by cutting down on these costs. Whatever you do, it’s a good idea to customize the spreadsheet for your personal needs so that it’s easier to scan through the information.

Managing Your Household Tasks

Another practical way to use Excel is to manage your household tasks. This is great if you have a large home that requires a lot of maintenance and cleaning, or if you find yourself forgetting to do things like clean your home, empty out the trash, and so on.

First, start with a household chores list to get an idea of what tasks you should put in your spreadsheet. Then decide when you want to do them. Split them into daily, weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly tasks, and add them to different spreadsheets by adding new tabs. Then just keep an eye on the spreadsheet as you complete tasks. If you have other family members that you want to delegate maintenance tasks to, put them on the spreadsheet and share them with the rest of your household.

Alternatively, you could make a daily household task list and print it out in spreadsheet form, then stick it to your refrigerator so that everyone can see it. It’s a great way to remind people of their household responsibilities.

Staying Organized

Many people use Excel as a kind of organized book or document for various things because it’s easy to use and you can cleanly visualize information.

For instance, you could use Excel to keep track of some contacts that you’ve been keeping in touch with for various purposes. Maybe you can use it to track leads for your business, or maybe you can write down a list of people and their emails because you want to send them thanks. You can even use it to record birthday dates or even just keep a diary of memories of the interactions you’ve had with people. If you want to stay organized with your information, then Excel is a great piece of software for exactly that.

Keeping Track of Your Health and Fitness

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or gain muscle, keeping track of your health and fitness with a spreadsheet is a great idea. Not only can you add a lot of useful information to help you keep track of your progress and goals, but you can also use your health and fitness spreadsheet to visualize your progress.

If you’re planning to lose weight, then you can use a spreadsheet for calorie-counting purposes. Write down everything you eat in a spreadsheet, then add the amount of calories you’ve consumed in the process. Then you can use the built-in tools to track how many calories you’re eating each day, make graphs or charts to help visualize it, and then look for ways to cut calories where possible. It’s a great way to see just how much you’re eating every day.

You can also keep track of your exercises and progress. Write down what exercises you do, how much time they take, how many reps you’re doing, and so on. This is a brilliant way to look at your progress over time, and you can see how much you’ve improved. You can also add a weight column to track your overall progress as well.

And lastly, you can use a spreadsheet to track strength gains as well. Write down what exercises you’re doing, how many reps you’re doing per set, the amount of weight, the amount of rest, and so on. This will help you visualize your progress in the gym and you can even share your results and stats with others to help you identify potential hurdles, or just to motivate others into tracking their fitness as well.

Planning All Kinds of Events

Spreadsheets are also a fantastic way to plan all kinds of events. Perhaps you’re struggling to budget for a holiday abroad with your friends. If that’s the case, you can use a spreadsheet to keep track of expenses, split different costs, and also synchronize everyone’s holiday dates so that you can all go together.

One of the great things about using an Excel spreadsheet is the ability to share the spreadsheet with others. They can view it online, make changes, and you can even leave notes for others to see. Noticing a number is off or that something isn’t being calculated correctly? You can either edit it yourself or just leave a note for the spreadsheet owner to fix!

Lots of people also use spreadsheets for large events where there are lots of people attending. For instance, if you’re planning a large event such as a wedding or a big meetup, then you can add everyone’s name and details to a spreadsheet so that they’re easier to search up in case you need to contact them. You can also add notes to each person, such as their dietary needs or entertainment preferences.

In short, spreadsheets are a fantastic way to organize events. If you find yourself trying to plan and manage a large event with many people, then start using a spreadsheet to help you tackle some of the biggest challenges.

For the Occasional Calculations You Might Do

Lastly, you can think of Excel as a flexible calculator for all kinds of things.

Let’s say you’re trying to put together a hobby project and you need to buy lots of different things. You can put together a list of things that you need, and then add their costs, quantities, and even links to the websites where you can buy them. You can use Excel’s functions to add up the costs you see in a column, and you can modify the quantities and have them reflected in the final cost. You can do these sorts of calculations for everything–even a grocery list!

Whether you’re using Excel for the first time or are a seasoned veteran with years of experience, you’ll find that there are countless different ways to use Excel in your daily life. You’ll find that you can do really quick calculations without needing a traditional calculator, and you can keep track of lots of different stats and numbers that can be beneficial to your everyday life. It’s one of the most flexible pieces of software that you can own once you learn how to use some of its more powerful features.

So we hope this article has taught you a few ways to make use of your spreadsheet skills. Even though Excel can be a daunting program to use, we encourage you to learn some essential skills over the Internet. With so many blog posts and videos that cover how to use Excel and spreadsheets in general, you’ll have a wealth of knowledge to pick up and apply to your everyday life.