Yeah, Excel still feels like the safer bet for detailed financial tracking. I've tried Notion for budgeting and payments, but when you're juggling multiple contractors and loan draws, spreadsheets just handle the complexity better... less room for mistakes. Plus, banks usually prefer Excel anyway.
I've been using Excel too, but honestly, it hasn't exactly been foolproof for me. Maybe it's just my lack of spreadsheet wizardry, but I've had a few moments where one misplaced formula nearly gave me a heart attack—especially when tracking contractor payments and loan draws. I tried Notion briefly, and while it looked sleek and organized at first glance, it felt like it was missing some of the nitty-gritty functionality I needed.
Still, I'm not totally convinced Excel is the holy grail either. Banks definitely prefer it, true, but sometimes I wonder if that's just because they're used to it rather than it actually being superior. Maybe there's something else out there that's user-friendly enough for spreadsheet skeptics like me but robust enough to handle all the moving parts of a construction loan. Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and finally learn how pivot tables work...
Honestly, Excel nearly drove me nuts too when I was juggling contractor payments. I tried Notion as well, and yeah, it looks great but felt kinda limited once things got complicated. Recently stumbled onto Airtable—it's like if Excel and Notion had a baby. Took me a bit to get the hang of it, but now it's a lifesaver. Might be worth checking out before diving into pivot tables...those still scare me a little, haha.
Totally get what you're saying about Airtable—it's pretty intuitive once you get past the initial learning curve. Did you find a good way to handle recurring payments or automate reminders there? That's where I got stuck last time...ended up back in Excel pivot-table-land, unfortunately.
I've been there—pivot tables haunt my dreams sometimes, lol. Airtable's great, but recurring payments were tricky for me too. Ended up pairing it with Zapier to automate reminders...worked pretty well, but still felt a bit clunky. Curious if anyone found something smoother?
