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Old 11-03-2012, 11:45 AM   #1
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Cost/investment spreadsheet

I was wondering if someone knew or has done a spread sheet laying out the investment they have put in to their bus? I am wanting to keep track of it as it seems it will be taking a VERY long time to do this. In the event I end up selling it off I think its easier to justify the asking cost if its well documented with receipts?


Im sure some of you wont want to know what you have in yours but again it would be nice to keep track of such things.


Thanks in Advance.

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Old 11-03-2012, 12:33 PM   #2
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I'm not keeping tons of paper receipts. No room to save all that paper. I set mine up in an OpenOffice spreadsheet.

Sheet 1: I have columns for...
DATE
SOURCE (where bought)
DESCRIPTION (to keep track of what i bought)
COST (with tax) running total at bottom of page
MATERIALS (without taxes) running total at bottom of page
VEHICLE COST & REPAIRS (cost of the bus shell plus repairs made to the actual bus not related to conversion) running total at bottom of page
PAINT running total at bottom of page
PLUMBING running total at bottom of page
APPLIANCES running total at bottom of page
INSULATION running total at bottom of page
WOOD & MATERIALS running total at bottom of page
ELECTRICAL/BATTERY SYSTEM running total at bottom of page
TOOLS (wanted to keep track of what I bought to use on the bus) running total at bottom of page
LIGHTING running total at bottom of page
HEAT/AIR running total at bottom of page
MISCELLANEOUS running total at bottom of page

Sheet 2: this page shows what I still need to buy. I keep the date/prices updated monthly so I don't end up with a nasty surprise. Once bought, I delete the row. Everything is in subcategories (Electrical, Walls, Bay Boxes, Showerstall, Cabinets, Plumbing, LP, etc). Stuff is set up more in project groups that anything else.
DATE
DESCRIPTION
PRICE EACH
QTY
COST
SHIPPING OR TAX
TOTAL
NOTES (location of where I found the item. I usually have more than one source so each source for an item (like lights) will get it's own entry/price/source.

At the bottom of the page I have
SUBTOTAL (deleting out QTY results in the items I will most likely buy with out having duplicates including the ones I won't)
"ALREADY SPENT" (from sheet 1... requires an entry that looks like this... =Sheet1.E96)
TOTAL of subtotal & Already spent. As of right now, I'm looking at a potential TOTAL investment of $3315.20, not counting the cost of the bus shell or repairs made to the bus. This does include future purchases.)

Sheet 2 also includes notes I've made (Merge Cells to make one large cell).

Sheet 3 has a couple mini spreadsheets. A few have been set up for figuring power usage for various appliances. I have a running spreadsheet dedicated for the Hydronic system (both heat/air) since it is being put together piece by piece as we get the $$ to do it. I have the results for that on Sheet 2 (Heat/Air Chiller.... =Sheet3.C36). It simply lists the individual component, have/buy, cost, Notes (where to buy). If I have bought the component, the item bought is entered on sheet 1 (Heat/Air column), $0 is entered on Sheet 3 and the remaining estimated total shows up under "heat/air chiller" on Sheet 2.

Building the BlueBird Conversion Costs spreadsheet was much easier than putting together my Fulltiming Budget Non-Budget Spreadsheet. It's 14 sheets and 12 of the sheets link back to Sheet 1. It's a budget spreadsheet I set up because I wasn't sure of where to start with a budget so this one I just fill in monthly and it extrapolates a monthly budget for next year based on actual numbers. Helps to know what we spend $ on. It's also how I discovered how much $ we spent on groceries one month ($700+) because we were buying every few days.
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Old 11-03-2012, 12:53 PM   #3
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

lornaschinske

Can you post up your sheet with out your info in it? I think yours has a lot of details I dont need but I would rather have it and not need it than the other way around.
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Old 11-03-2012, 02:31 PM   #4
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

Open Office 123 has spread sheets you can make em anyway you want.......... http://www.openoffice.org/download/

Kingsoft is another check em out and take your pick ..................... http://www.kingsoftstore.com/spreadsheets-free.html
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Old 11-03-2012, 02:47 PM   #5
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I have MS office 2010 but I suck at making spreadsheets. I leave that to the pros
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Old 11-03-2012, 03:48 PM   #6
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by bapos
lornaschinske

Can you post up your sheet with out your info in it? I think yours has a lot of details I dont need but I would rather have it and not need it than the other way around.
I don't know. I've never uploaded a spreadsheet to any thing but my webpage. I'll try.
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Old 11-03-2012, 05:20 PM   #7
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

Conversion Costs Spreadsheet Scroll down to find it. Hope it works.
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Old 11-03-2012, 05:54 PM   #8
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I started an excel spreadsheet for this project(we use them all the time at work)...then I said this is just like every project I want to keep track....so I did as I did on others "click-delete"
Its not worth it to me too worry about what I wat to build...if I have $ itgoes in,if not then I do something else...only thing we track is monthy bills...
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Old 11-03-2012, 06:52 PM   #9
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

lornaschinske

I downloaded so it works nicely.... Thank you
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Old 11-03-2012, 06:54 PM   #10
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

We wanted to know what we were going to end up spending on the bus conversion. I hear too many folks say things like " a conversion costs more than buying a new RV outright" that it just made me curious. And it's a bit of a game. We decided when we first started this to try to do it for $5K (not counting the shell cost). I think we will be pulling it off.

As for the monthly bills, that's why I set up the fulltiming budget spreadsheet.
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Old 11-06-2012, 12:03 PM   #11
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I've been keeping track of it in my build thread...

There's noway someone could buy an rv that is purpose built for what I have spent building mine... I have been keeping track for myself, I like knowing how thrifty I am... Like Lorna said, it's kinda like a game...
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Old 11-06-2012, 09:07 PM   #12
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I guess I'm like Bapos----click delete! I know without even thinking about it that I have spent way more $ on my project than I could ever recoup much less justify! OH well. I'm still able to pay my bills and I can't think of anything I'd rather spend $ on than my old bus---besides, as long as I am not causing my family any grief why muddy the waters with facts when the enthusiasm over the project seems to encourage creativity among them.

Lest you think I am a spendthrift, I have kept detailed records of expenditures of all my previous projects and for the same reason as others I guess.

WTF (pardon my French). This project isn't a business endeavor--it's just for FUN! Jack
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Old 11-07-2012, 01:01 AM   #13
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Re: Cost/investment spreadsheet

I've always been very frugal... Always looking for a deal and get a weird sense of pride from it... My wife gets annoyed by it and doesn't like shopping with me for anything... I just painted my house a couple months back and got two 5 gallon buckets of Berh's best stuff at Home Depot ($180 each) for $20... The color was off a tad for another customer, but looked great on my house... I talked about that deal for weeks... I just get a kick out of it I guess...
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