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An updated spreadsheet can be found here.
Keeping track of your manufactured spending is extremely important. I have always had a system in place to keep track of my budget, used VRCs, receipts, and used gift cards, however I never knew exactly how many points/miles/cash back I manufactured in a month. So, as of March 1st I decided to make a new spreadsheet to keep track of this unnecessary blind spot.
So far my spreadsheet looks like this for the month of March:
The spreadsheet is pretty self-explanatory and easy to set up. The only thing that would need to be changed is the “Program” formula and the “Earned This Month” formula. The “Program” formula currently looks like this:
=If(F16=”Jenni’s Ink Bold”,”Ultimate Rewards”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Blue Cash Pref”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Sapphire Preferred”, “Ultimate Rewards”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Discover More”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Citi AA”, “AA Miles”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Citi AA”, “AA Miles”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Barclay US Airways”, “US Airways Miles”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Citi Dividend”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Chase Amazon”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Josh’s Chase Freedom”, “Ultimate Rewards”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Chase Freedom”, “Ultimate Rewards”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Discover It”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Jenni’s Quicksilver”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Visa SavingsEdge”, “Cash Back”, IF(F16=”Plink”, “Plink Points”, IF(F16=”Rebate”, “Cash Back”, “”))))))))))))))))
The “Program” formula on my spreadsheet is very long, but it stems from a very simple one. The English version of the formula states the following: If cell G4 says Jenni’s Ink Bold then write Ultimate Rewards in the cell the formula was typed in, otherwise if G4 says Josh’s Sapphire Preferred then write Ultimate Rewards in the cell the formula was typed in. The rest of the formula continues this trend by using other names of credit cards. You can set up the formula like this:
=IF(G4=”Name of Credit Card”,”Reward Program Name”, “”)
Then you can continue adding credit cards by replacing the red “” with the same IF(G4=”Name of Credit Card”,”Reward Program Name”, “”).
The “Earned This Month” formula goes like this:
=SUMIF(H:H,”Cash Back”,E:E)
The English version states the following; For every cell in column H that says Cash Back, add the amount from the corresponding cell in row E to the total in the current cell. Simply, replace the Cash Back clause with whatever you want to call the rewards category.
I am not saying this is the best way to keep track of your monthly manufactured spending, but it works great for me. If you have any other ideas, leave them in the comments.
Spreadsheet Download link