New template or change old?

Google Sheets
1

I’ve been using Tiller since 2020 and I now want to change few things (for example categories). Should I start with a new template in 2024 or should I try and change the old one?

I feel starting with a new template would be easier and clean. Thoughts?

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I’m going to be watching this because I kind of have the same question.

My accounts list is a gynormous unholy mess of old and renamed accounts. Any time I need an account drop down, it’s just not even practical to do. And my categories wouldn’t be offended by an update either.

BUT I hate the idea of losing - all those years of comparison data. But, now I’m thinking clean, lean and mean might be worth it.

Great quesion!

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I just started using Tiller, but have a similar concern as I track many accounts in my sheets. I would assume that at some point the sheer amount of data in the sheets will make loading and running reports quite cumbersome.

I’m curious whether that means moving to a new sheet, copy the existing sheets into a file that’s purely for archival and reporting purposes for those years, or …?

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Fantastic question. Brand new yo Tiller, so hoping to get some guidance, too.

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Since Tiller released the new foundation template, I’m going to start fresh…but at the beginning of 2024. I like this article on getting my budget ready for the new year. Some things I adopted:

  • I always keep one year of prior transactions to take advantage of some of the community solutions that are out there for period comparisons.
  • For the closed year, I also download the transactions as its own CSV for safe measure. I can indulge my data hoarder instincts with many years of data…without bogging down my active tiller file.
  • If categories have changed from year to year but you want apples to apples, create a vlookup list. Example: “Groceries - His” and “Groceries - Hers”
    maps to “Groceries”     (see Heather’s correction below. Definitely update categories in your active file per her suggestions).
  • Toyed with the idea of aggregating a copy of transactions only to the granularity I care to analyze if I want 3+ years. For instance, month/year but not the exact date of the transactions.
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@arash.sayadi This article has some good ideas about data volume.

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@gauravtechie - this is really your call.

If you want to re-build your categories list it might be easier to start fresh, though you can use “Find & Replace” in gSheets to find old instances of the Category and replace it.

It really just depends on whether you want to invest the time into starting fresh. I would say if you do start fresh in 2024, just clear out data prior to 2024 in your new sheet so there’s no worry about it not being categorized.

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I personally like to start fresh every year and archive my sheets from the previous years.