Holli
To clarify option 1. You need to create a calculation column otherwise you have a circular calc.
Eg Say B1,B2,B3 had values 4,5,and 6 respectively, andC1,C2&C3 had values 7,8,&9. Suppose you want your answers in column D. Create a column elsewhere, it can be anywhere but we will use column E. You have existing control values here. I.e. E1 is 23, E2 is 40, and E3 is 12. We want to get the product of B*C but only if it is less than our control value. Therefore in our result cell D1 we type =IF(B1*C1<E1,B1*C1,E1). (I always think it helps to think of the first comma as meaning “Enter” and the second comma as meaning “otherwise Enter”) Copy the formula down to other cells. If you don’t want to see the calculation column (E) select it and go to Format, Column, Hide. If you just want blank or zero values look at simpler options.