How to make a simple two column data chart in Google Spreadsheets?

Question

I have a column with dates and a column with an amount of money. I just want to make the simplest chart possible, a line chart that shows money as a function of time, so I can see in what dates I tend to spend more. As simple as this seems, I can't possibly get it to work in Google Spreadsheets (I don't use Excel by the way). So, for example, I have something like this:

6/4/2013; 1200  
6/8/2013; 1100  
6/12/2013; 850  

I just want the dates to be on one axis, and the money on the other. I know it's trivial, but just to set things clear. So I create a line chart, set both columns as ranges, and it says:

The required data format for the Line chart doesn't match the current data.

The first column should contain the category label. Data values should appear as numeric columns. Each numeric column may be followed by one or two text columns. The text in the first column will be displayed as annotations above the data points. The text in the second column will be displayed in a hover-card when hovering over the point.

It seems Google Spreadhseets is stupid enough to not understand non-American dates.

How do I set it?

(Changing the locale doesn't work, it still interprets my months as days.)

SUM() doesn't even work right, what's wrong with Google Spreadsheets?

I set the locale so the decimal character is comma, not point.

=E1+E2 does work but =SUM(E1:E2) yields 0, how is this possible?

Answer 1

Maybe this has been fixed in New Google Sheets because it works for me (indeed, it is VERY simple):

Select A1:B3, Insert, Chart..., click Line chart, Insert.

Seems happy to work with DMY format and, as it happens, text for dates (since happening to be 4 months apart the x-axis spacing to be equal is about correct anyway).