Can We Even Afford This Vacation?
Hi there! I'm Kyle — husband, dad, spreadsheet nerd, and the heart behind Practical Sheets Co.
Back in 2014, right after my wife Lauren and I got married, we caught the travel bug. Whether it was planning a vacation or considering any big life purchase, I kept wondering: Can we really afford this? What will our finances look like in a few years? At the time, we didn’t have a savings account — just a checking account and a lot of questions. Most budgeting tools helped track spending, but none of them looked ahead to show how today’s decisions could affect our future.
So I built my own tool — a simple spreadsheet in Excel that could forecast our cash flow years down the road. I called it the Decision Analyzer. It gave us peace of mind and helped us plan smarter. Over time, I made it more dynamic, more powerful, and extended the projections out to 10 years. It even helped us understand how having kids (our sweet Everly, now 5, Camden, 2, and Layla, our newborn) would impact our budget — and how we could prepare for it.
A big part of this story is my dad. He passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2023, but he left me with something incredibly meaningful: a love for spreadsheets and a deep appreciation for details. Anytime I had a financial question growing up, he’d answer with — you guessed it — a spreadsheet. I carry that same spirit in everything I create.
Fast forward to 2024: with a growing collection of practical spreadsheets that we personally use every day, I launched Practical Sheets Co. (Name credit goes to Lauren — she came up with it on a whim, and it stuck!) Since then, we’ve sold thousands of spreadsheets designed to help people like you make sense of your money, track health goals, and plan for the future — without the headache.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here and taking the time to read our story. Whether you're just browsing or looking for something specific, I'm always happy to help.
Warmly,
Kyle
