In everyday life, it is critical to use the tools available for conscious consumption and efficient use of resources. One such tool is MS Excel, which allows, with built-in functions, automatic calculations, calculating measures of central tendencies, sorting, and organizing lists (PerfectXL, 2021). The use of Excel in everyday life has multiple practical uses, depending on what kind of problem needs to be solved. In my practice, I would use Excel as an inventory tool because it would allow me to carefully track consumption and purchase running out of food or medications in a timely manner. Specifically, in my kitchen I use a stockpile of cereal, pasta, and have a first aid box of medications like painkillers, antivirals, and adsorbents. I use all of these regularly during the week but find that when I need some of these things urgently, I do not have them. As a result, I either have to order home delivery, go to the store, or choose something alternative, which always takes a toll on my finances and time. To solve this problem, you could use Excel as an inventory tool. Specifically, I would make a list of all the foods and medications I have in my kitchen and organize them by category. In the adjacent column, I would enter how much of each product I have in stock, and then in the following columns I would gradually write in the consumption of each product. For example, if I spent one pack of pasta and I had a total of four packs, I would write “1” in the consumption rows. Using the autosummary function, I would create target cells that would automatically calculate the remaining amount of each product. In doing so, I would additionally create a conditional rule that would indicate to me that it was time to make new purchases. For example, if the remaining number of packets of pasta reached one, Excel would signal me to make a purchase. In this way, Excel does not create a fundamentally phenomenal solution that would be unique, but instead allows me to systematize and organize routine processes.
Reference
PerfectXL. (2021). What is an Excel function? PerfectXL. Web.