Chart to show totals by monthly when source data is by day

[Bendinblues]

I have a list of data that represents expenses for the year. Each row has 2
cells; the date of the transaction and the amount. I need help charting this
data to show totals by month. I need to show how this money was actually
spent by month over the year. I'm not sure whether an area chart or an
s-curve type chart will work best. The idea is to show how the money that was
budgeted for the year was actually spent by month. Not sure how to group the
individual transactions to chart by month.

sample data : 02 November 2007 R1234.56; 03 November 2007, R2345.78

idea would be for the chart to show the total of these two transactions
occurring in November.

 

[Gary''s Student]

A general three step approach approach, assuming the dates are in column A
and the amounts are in column B:

1. use a helper column to get the months. In C1 enter =MONTH(A1) and copy
down
2. create a Pivot Table giving the SUM of expenses BY month.
3. use Insert > Chart to chart the expenses.