Khatha is like a sheet of paper with columns and rows that lays out everything about transactions for you to examine. It shows all of the costs, income, taxes, etc. on a single screen for you to look at when planning, or making a decision. The data can then be "added up" by a formula to give a sum, total, percentage etc.
Over time, you will find yourself making several Khatha entries, including ones to calculate your taxes, plan your monthly family budget, monitor the progress of your child's marks etc. Once you've set up a good Khatha sheet, you can use it over and over again, for months or years, entering new or updated information as it becomes available. It can save you the tedium of using a calculator over and over again, and you can also build scenarios ("How much tax will I save if I increased my LIC investment by Rs. 3,000?")
Khatha in Action
A list of khathas
Party planner: Using formulae to multiply and add
Khatha comes with a handy calculator
Ways to use Khatha
Khatha can reduce the amount of time you need to spend managing — or worrying about — your money. Here are a few examples:
- Make a list of the items you want to buy during a sale, with estimates of cost. Ask Khatha to quickly give you a total
- Do your tax planning
- Say, you are seeing a new flat you are thinking of purchasing. You could write down the dimensions (with make a rough sketch) and calculate the total carpet area. And once you are back home, you could show the Khatha sheet to your family, or email it to your real estate consultant