Tiller Video Tour 8: Easily Analyze Your Data With a Quick Pivot Table

Edited video transcript:

In this post, we’ll explore the endless possibilities of analyzing your financial data in Tiller-powered spreadsheets using pivot tables.

Pivot tables are an easy way to experience the true potential of spreadsheets.

With all your data consolidated in a single spreadsheet, you can take advantage of the built-in reports provided by our Foundation Template. But that’s just the beginning. Here’s how to create your own customized reports that perfectly fit your needs.

Pivot tables are the key to this power. They are not only incredibly powerful but also remarkably user-friendly. Let’s dive in and create our first pivot table using our categorized transaction data.

First, open the transaction sheet and select the entire sheet.

Then go to the “Pivot table” option and choose to create it in a new sheet. Now, let’s structure the pivot table to have rows representing categories and columns reflecting months. The cell values will display the sum of the corresponding amounts.

Voila! You now have a comprehensive pivot table showcasing your spending by category and month. To ensure the most recent data appears on the left, you can easily rearrange the columns by sorting them in descending order by month.

To provide more insights, let’s create two separate pivot tables.

Start by filtering the first table to display only the category of “paycheck.” This table will solely focus on your income. Now, return to the transaction sheet and insert another pivot table in an existing sheet. Configure this second table to include rows of categories, columns of months, and values of amounts. Apply a filter to exclude the “paycheck” category, and reverse the order of months to align with income.

Now you can see a clear breakdown of income, expenses, and net savings for each month. Adding a “net” line that sums total income and spending reveals your overall financial picture.

But the possibilities don’t end there. You can use pivot tables to analyze specific areas of interest.

For example, imagine you have an Airbnb business on the side. By creating separate categories for Airbnb income and related expenses, you can stack them month over month and track the profitability of your venture.

Pivot tables are your best friend when it comes to consolidating and visualizing data in a concise and meaningful way. They empower you to generate unique analyses for any project or side hustle.