Spreadsheets!

wendy41

What are spreadsheets = Rows and columns.
This can help with budgeting or simple record of what books/cd's you have and by what author or artist. 

Google sheets is quite handy for whatever you want to keep track of. 

This guy does quite the job of taking you through what spreadsheets are. 
https://youtu.be/zs3ku4uVoho

If it interests you check it out! 

Tori_Scope

Thanks for sharing @wendy41  

I currently use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my monthly spending, which I find helpful. I quite enjoy working out the averages of how much I've saved and so on  

leeCal

I love spreadsheets, a brilliant invention.

wendy41

Spreadsheets were a great help when moving. Being able to do an inventory of all the stuff we have. Having moved a few times means that we were able to just reuse the list and edit it. Using it for keeping track of household bills. Making a music inventory was fun and for books. Also keeping track of exercise. 

ShirleyW

From being a little girl in the fifties I always loved making lists of things.

Imagine my joy when computers came along and I discovered spreadsheets!  I even trained to be an accountant so that I had a good excuse to use them more.  🤣

L_Volunteer

Spreadsheets tend to either be my best friend or my worst enemy - there's no in-between 

wendy41

I use conditonal formatting quite a lot alongside data validation (especially for a pop up calendar in a cell! or a drop down menu) enjoy pushing the boundaries on learning with spreadsheets so take it at my own pace in exploring different functions etc; at the minute have a spreadsheet that I keep track of my bg readings. Handy! 

wendy41

Mock data

Geoark

I use spreadsheets all the time, probably go through at least 20 to 30 per working day. Extracting data, mail merges, recording information, validating information, pivot tables etc. I have to admit though my heart sinks when I extract information from the system and find it has something like 50,000 lines. However recently having a word document with over 9000 pages, having the corresponding spreadsheet showing where to find information for a particular contact was a god send. Though I use excel and have Office 365 on my personal computer.

Some of my favourite work in spreadsheets were outside of work, creating a workbook to record, and provide a breakdown of customer satisfaction survey was my best piece. This included providing information based on various traits, but also putting in checks where such information could be used to identify an individual. It also produced tables and graphs to represent the data. 

My one piece of advise for anyone looking to start work, or looking for another job is to learn how to use spreadsheets, or improve your knowledge of spreadsheets, as it can open your prospects.

I originally trained to use spreadsheets using the original Lotus 123 many many seasons ago.

ShirleyW

Geoark said:

I originally trained to use spreadsheets using the original Lotus 123 many many seasons ago.

Gosh yes.  I remember Lotus 123!  So long ago. 😂

There was an earlier one too, Supercalc I think.  DOS based with no lines on it.

wendy41

OMG! I forgot about that; Lotus 123 this was on my very first computer! Long gone are the days of Smartsuite. 
@Geoark this is why I love spreadsheets there is so many functions to using a spreadsheet. Mine maybe simple make up but in a work environment they can be so handy. I recently found that my second to last employer was 'cheating' our production output by 'decreasing' the input numbers.  When ever we had hit target it would always show a decreased figure. Denied all knowledge when asked about it. 

Geoark

@wendy41
As part of my voluntary work we used to get our key performance indicators from the council in a spreadsheet. As one of the ways I enjoy learning is to see how other people do things, and as I trained as a programmer I rarely take at face value the information we were given. So didn't take long to realise our figures were lower than they should be and it was because the formula they used. 

Each month I would reject the figures and send it back to the council. Eventually as they attended our committee meetings and on this occasion we had a supportive councillor in the meeting I raised the issue. After the meeting the councillor took it up with the support team and we got an apology.

Excel is a beast though and I am always learning something new.