Boy, yesterday was a trip! I’ve been overdue in getting papers to my tax accountant and was determined to begin collecting them as soon as I got up.  I’ve been cheerleading myself into it all week, psyching myself up to just jump into it and get it over with.  Finally I woke up yesterday and wanted to do it.  I mean, all it is is pulling papers out of files and copying them but there are lots of them.  And she blithely asked me to include a spreadsheet of my expenses, as if I even know what that is.  Actually, I do know that Excel makes spreadsheets and I knew I had Excel, so I just opened the program and began a new document to see how tough it would be to learn it.  I saw boxes and alphabet, and commands I’ve never seen; plus some I’d seen ages ago – math stuff!    I panicked and called my pal Beth Head who, in 5 minutes walked me through everything I needed to know to start my spreadsheet.

So I start listing my expenses and listing the amounts for each month.  It’s doing the totalling for me and I am really getting into it and the job is becoming fun.  Then I hit a glitch.  Beth isn’t near her phone. She has a church to run, and work to do and a family to get home to.  So I turn to my Facebook buddies.  The friends I see most throughout the day each day.  I ask “In Excel, I have a page done with columns and want to know how to make the lines appear so they are inside cells instead of just on the page with no lines between the columns. Help?”  I immediately got several answers and just what I needed.  Jennifer Barnes suggested “Highlight what you want to add a border to, go to format, select cells, select borders and it has a little diagram so you can click to add them in whatever style you want.”  Facebook pal Bobbi Kidd, who I also know from the law office days in the 80’s, said “Or under the page set up you can check “gridlines” and they will show on your printed document.  If you have column headings you want to appear on each page, you can insert the cell range while you’re in that page set up screen.”

Later I have another: “Ok one more Excel question. How do I make it give me the decimal point for .00 for a round number amount? I’d like to see the .00 and don’t.” Bobbi Kidd was again among those who came to the rescue: “You can go to the set up for the program and make the selection and it will always round to 2 decimals and you won’t have to change it on each workbook, or you can go to the page set up for that particular workbook and under “Number” you can select money, accounting, etc. and set the decimal places. So many options……..” I like options.

I ended up spending a lot of time playing with Excel but I learned how to use it and I got my spreadsheets done.  I know that is a job I can delegate to someone quicker and more knowledgeable, but I kinda like knowing how to do my money stuff myself.  It keeps me on top of what is going on with my business and reminds me what comes in and where it goes.  I’m reminded that I keep everything fairly organized, everything gets paid on time and expenses are under control and within means.  And it’s easy to keep track of now that I know how to use Excel. And for that I can thank my friends.

Like you, I get by with a little help from my friends.

Especially my Facebook friends.

I’m just discovering Facebook
Managing Incoming Information; What Is Facebook For?
Facebook quizzes; every little bit of insight helps
Facebook posts; I’m in charge of what I attract
If a Friend Asks For $$ In Facebook, Ask A Personal Question
You Want To Be My Friend On Facebook?
How To Stop The Stupid Facebook Posts On Your Wall
The Zen of Farmville on Facebook? WTF?
Are Your Facebook Friends Really Your Friends? Don’t Assume Mine Are Either
What I post on Facebook
Finding childhood buds on Facebook, flashback to age 18
Putting personal details on Facebook and Myspace
Is it ok to break up with someone over Facebook?
Why I like Facebook