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What is Zer0?

Zer0 is a free to use, community supported Google spreadsheet based on a mixture of commercially available applications. Yep, Free - no subscription fees, nada.

Zer0 is based on the zero-based budgeting principles - to borrow a quote from Dave Ramsey - “The point of a zero-based budget is to make income minus the outgo equal zero. If you cover all your expenses during the month and have $500 left over, you aren't done with the budget yet. You must tell that 500 bucks where to go.”

Functionality

Some of the currently functionality includes:

• A custom menu - Zer0 (This will need authorization the first time its run, see here for details)
• Add links/images to transactions
• The ability to categorize and report on income types
• Multi-month budget view
• Setup flags as projects

The Initial reports/charts offered:

• Actuals vs Budget
• Net Worth
• Spend pie chart
• Project Tracking

Setup

Importing legacy data

You can import the .csv files exported by nYNAB to provide the basis of your net worth report or to generate accounts and categories from your existing data. Note: The budget file is only stored for historical reference.

Importing Budget data

From the Zer0 menu, select Setup > Import Budget File - this will open the hidden tab.

Once in the Import-Budget tab, place the cursor in cell A1 then click on the File menu, select Import. Choose Upload > Select a file from your computer - navigate to your budget.csv file and click on Select.

The result should look similar to:

Click on the Hide this tab button or hide it from the tab menu:

Importing Register data

Follow the same process as for the Budget file -

Open the Register tab, place the cursor in cell B1

then click on the File menu, select Import. Choose Upload > Select a file from your computer - navigate to your register.csv file and click on Select.

The result should look similar to:

Defining accounts

Navigate to Zer0 > Setup > Setup Accounts. If you imported legacy data, the accounts from within that file will be listed here. You will need to define the account type, whether it is active and if the account will be budgeted or tracked.

If you did not import legacy data, you will need to define the name of your accounts, the type & tracking method. You will also need to add the opening or starting balance in the Register tab for the account, like below:

Note:

• All budgeted accounts (excluding credit cards) should have an Inflow category assigned.
• Credit cards should have no category assigned and the balance should be entered as an outflow.
• Tracking accounts (Vehicles, Mortgage, Investments) should be entered with no category assigned.

Defining categories

Navigate to Zer0 > Setup > Setup Categories. If you imported legacy data, the category groups and categories from within that file will be listed here. You can also define additional category groups and categories here.

You will need to define the sort order - this will define the order in which the category groups appear in the Budget tab and elsewhere throughout the spreadsheet.

If you did not import legacy data, you will need to define the name of your accounts, the type & tracking method. You will also need to add the opening or starting balance in the register for the account, like below:

Defining flags

Think of flags as a group of items that you want to be able to track, maybe it's a project, it could be money that someone owes you!

Navigate to Zer0 > Setup > Setup Flags. If you imported legacy data, the flags from within that file will be listed here. You will need to define what the flag means. This will be used when running reports.

Defining bank statement import templates

The import of bank account transactions is currently a manual process. To help speed up the process, you can define a template similar to the 2 included example templates. The template columns that will be pasted into the Register tab are shown as columns I-S. Amend the formulas in these columns to suit the file format that you receive from the bank. If you need additional help, post a message in the Reddit sub - r/Zer0budgeting.

Using Zer0

Recording activity

Activity can be added to the Register simply by either manual input or by importing a .csv file from your bank. Note: Bank accounts and categories must already exist - navigate to the respective setup sheets via the Zer0 menu.

Adding links to transactions

It's quite handy to link either an image of a receipt or the URL for the suppliers website - simply right click in the link cell next to the transaction and select Insert link - keep the text short. Maybe use L (for link), R (for receipt), etc.

Transfers between accounts

Transfers between accounts are manual. If you are manually entering data vs importing from bank supplied data files, you will need to ensure both sides of the transactions are entered - the transaction in 1 account as an outflow and the other as an inflow. If you are importing bank data files, ensure that the other side of the transaction is either recorded manually or imported from the other bank account.

Splitting Transactions

Splitting transactions between categories are manual. If you need to split a transaction to multiple categories, insert a row and ensure that the total of the split lines is the total of the transaction.

Credit Card Transactions

Making a credit card payment is recorded as a transfer to that credit card account. Because you have already categorized the outflows that created the balance on your card, this is really just moving money between Accounts. Therefore a credit card payment has no impact on the Budget.

Select the Payee as Transfer: (Name of the account).

Do not select a category, and move on to the Outflow field.

Enter the amount of the payment in the Outflow field. To figure out how much of a payment to make:

A) If you are not using this card anymore, and just trying to pay it off, enter the amount you budgeted toward the debt in the Outflow column.

B) If you use this card for purchases and pay it in full every month, simply pay the amount requested on your credit card bill.

C) If you are trying to pay off this card but still using it for new purchases, you’ll want to record a payment that includes what you spent on new purchases AND what you budgeted for the prior debt.

Defining the budget

The initial Budget sheet has been defined with 15 Category groups, each with 20 category rows - not the most elegant way to present it, but, i couldn’t think of way around messing the formulas up when adding/removing categories. If you need more, you can simply insert additional rows in the category group - or copy an entire category group - or leave a message in the community.

The order in which the category groups and categories are displayed is defined on the Setup-categories sheet. If you wish to add or remove category groups or categories or to change the sort order, please do so from the Setup-categories sheet - not directly in the Budget sheet.

Filtering the budget

If you wish to filter the budget to only display rows that have a category, you can do so by placing your cursor in B7 and selecting across columns and down to the last row, then press the filter icon

Then filter on column C - category - click on the value (Blanks) to remove the checkmark.

Your budget should now look similar to this:

If you wish to see just the category groups, clear all values on the category except for

TOTAL =======>

The summary view should look like this:

The sort order for the Category groups is defined on the Setup-Categories sheet - if you wish to change the order, do so here.

Columns:

Budgeted: Based on the To be budget amount, allocate the remaining funds across the categories.

Note: You only budget based on what you have in your accounts today, not future income and don’t, add future income to the register!

Activity: This is formula driven and will add all the inflows/outflows for a category for the respective month.

Available: This is the remaining funds that you have available for a particular category - if you have any funds from a prior month, it will be added to this total. If you are over budget for a category, the negative funds will not carry forward, but, are included in the overspent field (in the heading) the following month.

Sorting & filtering data

At times you may want to sort or filter your data (especially in the Register sheet) - you may want to show only rows for a particular account or category - Zer0 makes use of the power of filtering and sorting functionality - ensure that you understand these concepts. Here is the link for Google Sheets support on sorting and filtering data.

Deleting data

Be careful when deleting data - especially entire rows or columns - you could unknowingly remove formulas from hidden columns - it's recommended to deleting individual cells or a range of cells. Cells with formulas will be colored to make them easier to identify.

Data validation

The Register sheet has some built-in data validations - i.e., you are unable to record a transaction without the account, date and payee. Accounts and categories must be an existing value.

Feedback/Additional Help

Feedback, additional help, suggestions and the reporting of bugs are welcome at the Reddit sub - r/Zer0budgeting

About

The initial design and code for the 2017 Q4 release was completed by Sean Williams - @IAm_SeanW