6 Practical Ways to Use Google Sheets
Sometimes the exact software you need is already at your fingertips. It just takes a bit of tinkering and coloring outside the lines to build your own solution.
While accounting may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of spreadsheet software, there are many more possibilities beyond that. So, what are other practical ways you can use Google Sheets? Read on to find out.
1. Track Your Spending With Google Sheets
You don’t need to be an accountant totrack your spending in spreadsheet software. Using Google Sheets, you may build a monthly tracker to help you keep tabs on your spending and establish a baseline for your budget.
Better yet, you don’t need to learn a ton of complex formulas or functions to get the job done. Using just three columns—place, category, and amount—you can enter your transactions daily and get a total for the month. TheSUMfunction will help you add your grand total as follows:
And adding category totals is a cinch withSUMIF.
Using these two functions, you can create the perfect template to help you get to the bottom of where your money is going.
2. Keep a To-Do List in Google Sheets
Whether it’s a continuous checklist oryou’re planning a catch-up day, Google Sheets is an excellent place for your to-do list. But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel if you just want to get going. Among the software’s template gallery, you’ll find a prebuilt solution.
To find it, head over to your Google Sheets homepage. At the top of your screen, you’ll notice a panel where you’re able to choose toStart a new spreadsheetor browse a handful of templates.
If you don’t see it there, clickTemplate galleryin the top-left corner, and you’ll find it underPersonal. Once you click in, it’s ready to go.
3. Collaborate on Projects in Google Sheets
Choosing the right project management tool for you and your team can be challenging, especially when it comes to budget. If you’re not ready to invest, you canbuild a functional project collaboration board in Google Sheetsthat works just as well, minus some of the bells and whistles—but who needs them?
Some examples of columns you can include are:
It takes a little initial planning to set up a project board in Google Sheets, but beyond the benefit of saving money, your coworkers may already know the basics of spreadsheet software, so there’s less explaining for you to do.
4. Build a Content Calendar in Google Sheets
There’s also no shortage of choice when picking content calendar tools. Really, it can be overwhelming to compare features—useful and not. If you’re still trying to choose a favorite, you cancreate a custom content calendar in Google Sheetsthat will suit all your needs—other than actually posting it, but most social channels have some scheduler built into them.
Here, you can map out your posts within columns, much like prompts, such as:
Like the status buttons in ClickUp and other project management software, you canuse dropdowns in Google Sheetsto make your progress updates clickable. Here’s how:
While many content calendar software is available, why not tailor your calendar to your needs by building one in sheets? Better yet, it’s free with no paywalls.
5. Keep a CRM in Google Sheets
Another software that can get a bit overcomplicated and pricey is CRM. you’re able to build your own based on your current sales or service processes in Google Sheets. Some columns to include are client name, phone number, email, date contacted, status, and notes.
Before you startbuilding your CRM in Google Sheets, you’ll also want to consider some columns that are unique to your business and sales cycle, such as the desired product or service, the problem you’re trying to solve for the client, or who owns the account.
You may decide you’re content with your Google Sheets CRM, but even if you move to another software later, many allow you to import data from spreadsheets.
6. Set and Track Your Goals in Google Sheets
It’s one thing to have goals. It’s another to set them. You can use Google Sheets to do that by:
Create a simple sheet with columns for your goal statements, specifics, objectives, and timelines. Add another for progress.
Below your goals, create a table with the days of the week as rows and your daily objectives as columns—for example, reading 20 minutes a day, going for a 30-minute walk, etc. Track your activity daily and update your progress weekly.
Stay on Top of Your Workload With Google Sheets
You don’t need to invest in pricey software to stay on top of your workload. With some planning and creativity, you can build the perfect solution in Google Sheets. Best of all, you can easily share them with your friends and coworkers to team up on tasks and projects.
If goal-tracking helps you get things done, you’ll know the need for a handy tool to do this. Here’s how to use Notion to set and track your goals.
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