Tutorial: Create a Dynamic 'Current Month' Summary for a Custom Dashboard

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Tutorial: Create a Dynamic ‘Current Month’ Summary for a Custom Dashboard

Tiller’s Monthly Budget sheet is excellent for a complete overview of your spending. But what if you want to build a custom dashboard to focus on just a few key categories?

That’s the power of managing your money in a spreadsheet: you have the ultimate flexibility to see your data your way.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through building a dynamic formula that automatically tracks a specific category’s spending for the current month. It’s a perfect addition to a custom report in your Tiller Foundation Template.

Getting Started: Create Your Dashboard Sheet

Before you use the formula, we recommend creating a new, blank sheet in your Tiller spreadsheet. You can do this by clicking the + icon in the bottom-left corner.

The Dynamic Formula

From your new Dashboard sheet, you can copy and paste the complete formula below into any blank cell.

=SUMIFS(Transactions!E:E, Transactions!D:D, "Groceries", Transactions!B:B, ">="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),-1)+1, Transactions!B:B, "<"&EOMONTH(TODAY(),0)+1)

Notice the Transactions! prefix. Because you are on a new sheet, this tells the formula to look for your data on your Transactions sheet, which is essential for it to work correctly.

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How the Formula Works: A Detailed Breakdown

This formula uses the SUMIFS function, which is designed to add up numbers that meet multiple criteria. Let’s look at each piece.

Part 1: The Sum Range (Transactions!E:E)
This is the first argument in the formula. It tells the function to go to the Transactions sheet and add up the numbers in your Amount column (E).

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Part 2: The First Condition (Transactions!D:D, "Groceries")
This is your first true/false test. The formula looks at the Category column (D) on your Transactions sheet and will only sum transactions that match “Groceries”. You can change “Groceries” to any category you want to track.

Part 3: The Second Condition (The Dynamic Date Window)
This is the most powerful part of the formula. It creates a date range that automatically adjusts to the current month by checking your Date column (B) on the Transactions sheet.

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How the +1 Trick Sets the Boundaries

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The formula uses EOMONTH (End of Month) and TODAY functions to always find the right dates.

  • To Find the Start Date: The formula uses EOMONTH(TODAY(), -1). Based on today’s date (September 19, 2025), this finds the last day of the previous month, which is August 31, 2025. Adding +1 shifts that date forward to the first day of the current month: September 1, 2025. The formula then looks for any date on or after this.

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  • To Find the End Date: The formula uses EOMONTH(TODAY(), 0). This finds the last day of the current month: September 30, 2025. Adding +1 shifts it to the first day of the next month: October 1, 2025. The formula then looks for any date before this, which is a precise way to capture all transactions up to the final second of the current month.

Building custom views like this is what makes spreadsheets so powerful for gaining financial clarity. We encourage active involvement with your money as a path to confidence and success.

We’d love to see what you build! Check out the “Templates” sections for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel.

-Alice
Tiller Evangelist

Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn

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