How To Use Conditional Formatting In Excel

I first discovered conditional formatting at work, but have been using it in my goal setting at home.  In part of my quest to become more awake this year I started looking at the ways I spend my time, and tracking them.  As a frugal person, I do a lot of things like clipping coupons, selling at consignment stores, and trading in books for store credits.  I also spend a lot of time writing articles that sell on a per word basis, or writing articles to submit to websites and magazines.  I wanted to create a spreadsheet that will track all that.  I needed a way to see at the end of the year which of my efforts were earning me money, and which were merely saving pennies and wasting time.  (Above is only an example that I created for this post).

Take the example in this post.  I have about 6 months worth of data now that I can examine.  In comes conditional formatting.

 

The conditional formatting menu is under the home tab sort of in the middle of the screen.  It has many features, but my favorite is using colors to give me a visual representation of what my numbers are doing.

Say I want to look at weeks where my coupon use was above average.  First highlight the column you want to look at (column B in my example).  Next, under the conditional menu, select "Top Bottom Rules" and then select "Above Average".  A menu comes up, and you can select the color you want to make any cells that contain numbers that are above the average.

 

Done!  Isn't that helpful?

Make Your Own Cupcake Toppers

Here's a really cool use I found for my computer last week -- cupcake toppers.  I've often admired them in stores, but not the $5 price tag.  I spent a few minutes in power point making these for my son's Spiderman themed party.  I simply printed them, cut them out, and taped them to toothpicks.

If you'd like the file I used, you can download it from google docs here.  They may need to be resized depending on the size of your cupcakes.

Linked to: Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Hope In Every Season, Works For Me Wednesday

Oversharing Sunday

My parents were in town for a week, and we ended their visit with a bang -- my son's 5th birthday party.  My mom made this awesome cardboard city for his Spiderman themed party.

I took a day off last week, and we all went to the zoo.  They've made a lot of improvements to the National Zoo since I was last there a few years ago.  I think my parents enjoyed it as much as the kids did!

This week will be another busy one.  I have onsite training in a town 30 miles away.  I'm nervous about finding it, about only having three days to learn a software I will have to implement immediately, and for my husband who will have to do all the pick ups and drop offs for the kids.

On top of that, even though we didn't make an offer for the other house, we're going to go ahead and have our real estate agent over to do a walk through.  Just to see...

Three Goals For This Week:
Make oregano pesto
Attend training for work
Re-caulk downstairs shower

Have a great week!

This Week's Menu

It's always good to get back on a menu plan after a week away isn't it? I'm looking forward to a week of home cooked food (well, plus a little take out and birthday cake to celebrate DS's 5th birthday!).

Sun -- Shrimp & tomatoes, swiss chard
Mon -- Chicken strudel, pasta salad, apple slices
Tue -- Italian chicken, rice
Wed -- Pizza casserole, salad, garlic bread
Thu -- Savory chicken, rice
Fri -- Take out and birthday cake

Breakfasts -- Yogurt, smoothies, toast, oatmeal

Lunches -- Curry wraps, Salads, Cheese & crackers, Leftovers

Linked to: Menu Plan Monday

 

Twitterature May 2013

I did a lot of comfort reading this month -- vacation and strep throat will do that to you.



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- Listened to both of these this month.  Great audiobooks to make chores zip by.

The Long Winter (Little House) -- Amazing how people can get by on so little and make it seem fun.  Still the train did not come.

Tapestry of Fortunes -- Nothing special, but passed the time on vacation.  Sometimes a happy ending is enough.

Flight Behavior -- Speaking of endings this one was horrible.  Expected much more.

Gardening in Eden: Seasons in a Suburban Garden -- Armchair gardening.  Enjoyed the war on groundhogs.

Visit The Modern Mrs. Darcy's new monthly reading link up to see what this is all about.



I've been tracking the book's I've read on Pinterest. Follow me there if you're interested. Or if you want to see even more of my feeble attempts to tweet, you can follow my brand newish twitter account.

{Note: Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!}

The Benefits of Blogging

A big benefit of blogging is when you can combine it with record keeping.  Having several years of menu plans to sift through has been helpful, and now that I have a gardening blog I've enjoyed looking back at what was blooming when last year.

Oversharing Sunday

Happy Mother's Day!  We've been working in the yard two days straight, and just came in for celebratory burgers and ice cream (aka what my DH knows how to cook).

I think we're 75% against moving.  Our house isn't perfect, but it's done, and taking on more work right now is just too daunting.

I have three goals this week:

1) Finish unpacking from vacation (I know, lame.)
2) Host DS's birthday party.
3) Buy shoes for DD

My parents are in town for the week, so I'm keeping it simple.  Blogging will be light while my father constantly uses my computer to update his fantasy baseball team.