My Awesome Budget Spreadheet

Two years ago I created a budget spreadsheet that I reconcile to my checking account on a weekly basis. We get paid weekly so the spreadhseet is set up with a column for each week of the year. It is really simple - it is the weeks income less the weeks expenses = amount in checking account (hopefully plus) which is then added to the income of the next week from which you take the expenses of that week resulting in the balance in the checking account on the last day of that week, again, hopefully plus . . . but sometimes it is a minus and thats where I can move numbers around. And so on, for the whole year. My budget spreadsheet has enabled us to buy a house. Our budget is so tight but I feel really empowered when I look at my spreadsheet. I can actually see how the menu I plan for my family this week will affect the bottom line in 1 week, 1 month or 1 year. Or, to put it another way, how buying chicken thighs this week instead of chicken breasts will enable me to get my son Thomas the Tank Engine napkins for his birthday in August, instead of plain red ones. Personally I'd like the red ones but not my boy and it's his party, right?