Layout for household budget

[monsnow]

I have created a single table (will add more) with fields such as 'food' 'household' 'insurance' etc. About 30 fields to track expenses. I have entered in a years worth of data and now trying to report it. each record is identified by payee and date, and than a payee might be divided into several fields. I would like any ideas on how best to present the data. I have played around with summary fields and parts, but by no means a master. Appreciate advice or a point in the right direction! Thanks, Michael

[comment]

IIUC, you have created a "spreadsheet" table with 30 columns, and each expense amount is listed in a specific column?

If so, I'm afraid that's not a very good starting point. You should have one field for the amount, and one field for the category. Then reporting becomes very easy.

[monsnow]

Thanks - appreciate your time, I may have approached this incorrectly, that is what I want to learn. I attached a couple of screenshots hoping that will best explain what I have. The layout is at a very basic level for data entry, to be improved as skill set increases...

[comment]

Your layout doesn't tell me much, but the field list is as I suspected. All those fields like 'Groceries', 'Utilities', 'Medical' etc. should be entered as VALUES in a single Category field.