How to summarize
your data by month
Quick Tip #1 from
Quantified Self Toronto (QuantifiedSelf.ca)
Sacha Chua

Let’s say that you’ve been
tracking data for a while…
File Store Date Time Name Total Item name Category
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41Bean 0.78Green beans Vegetables
jpg Lower Food Green
Prices
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41Chinese 0.87Chinese Vegetables
jpg Lower Food Cabbage cabbage
Prices
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41FM Pie 5.49Apple pie Snacks
jpg Lower Food App
Prices
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41KR Case 2.37Unknown Other
jpg Lower Food Drsg
Prices
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41NN Soup 2.07Beef soup Soup
jpg Lower Food Beef
Prices
113117. Nofrills 11-24-12 12:45:41Potato 3.14Baking Vegetables

Now you want to summarize
your data by month
• Balance out daily variations
• See seasonal patterns and overall
trends

How to summarize your data
(Microsoft Excel)
• Calculate the month so that you can
group by it:
=DATE(YEAR(…), MONTH(…), 1)
• Summarize your data using Insert >
Pivot Table

=DATE(YEAR(…), MONTH(…), 1)

Microsoft Excel: Pivot Tables

How to summarize your data
(OpenOffice.org)
• Calculate the month so that you can
group by it:
=DATE(YEAR(…); MONTH(…); 1)
• Summarize your data using Data >
Pivot Table > Create

Have fun analyzing!
Slides available at
quantifiedself.ca
Sacha Chua (quantified@sachachua.com)
QuantifiedAwesome.com