How to fill in the budget
- Under Income, enter what you expect to receive this month in the Planned column: your pay after taxes, money from a side job and anything else that comes in regularly.
- Go through the expense groups and write a planned amount next to every bill and spending category you have. Leave rows you do not need empty.
- During the month, or at the end of it, enter what you really received and spent in the Actual column. Bank statements and receipts make this quicker.
- Read the summary at the top. It shows total income, total expenses and what is left over, once as planned and once as it turned out.
In the spreadsheet, every total is a formula, so you only type the amounts. On the PDF you add up each group by hand and write the sum in its total row.
Planned and actual
Each row has two amounts. Planned is what you decide to spend before the month starts. Actual is what you really spent. The Difference column subtracts the actual amount from the planned one. A positive number means you spent less than planned; a negative number, shown in red in the spreadsheet, means you spent more.
The gaps tell you where your plan needs work. If groceries come out over plan three months in a row, the plan was too low, and next month's number should reflect what you really spend. If a category stays far under plan, that money can move to savings or to a debt.
What "left over" tells you
Left over is your total income minus your total expenses. In the Planned column it shows whether your plan adds up before you spend anything. If it is negative there, the plan spends more than you earn, and something has to change before the month begins.
In the Actual column it shows how the month really went. Savings count as an expense in this sheet, because they are money you set aside on purpose. A left over close to zero with your savings rows filled in means every unit of income has a job. Money still left over at the end can go to a savings goal or an extra debt payment.
How the 12-month version works
Choose 12 months to get one sheet for every month, named Jan to Dec, with the month name already filled in. A thirteenth sheet, Year, collects the totals of every month sheet with formulas: income, expenses and left over for each month, a year total, and the planned and actual spending of each expense group over the whole year. You never type anything on the Year sheet; it fills in as you work through the months.
The PDF version has the same structure: twelve month pages and a year page with empty boxes to copy your monthly totals into.
Categories in the template
The sheet starts with three income rows and nine expense groups. Rename any row to fit your life; the totals keep working.
| Group | Rows |
|---|---|
| Housing | Rent or mortgage, Property tax and fees, Repairs and maintenance, Furniture and household |
| Utilities | Electricity, Heating and gas, Water and trash, Phone and internet |
| Food | Groceries, Dining out, Coffee and snacks |
| Transportation | Car payment, Fuel or charging, Car maintenance, Parking and tolls, Public transit |
| Insurance | Health insurance, Car insurance, Home or renters insurance, Life insurance |
| Debt payments | Credit cards, Student loans, Personal loans, Other debt |
| Savings | Emergency fund, Retirement, Investing, Savings goals |
| Personal | Clothing, Medical and pharmacy, Personal care, Subscriptions, Entertainment |
| Other | Childcare, Pets, Gifts and donations, Travel, Miscellaneous |
Bills that come once or twice a year, like insurance paid annually or a car registration, are easy to forget. Divide the yearly amount by 12 and plan that share every month, so the money is there when the bill arrives. If you have no idea where to start, look back at past spending first. A blog post by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests going through one week at a time, using receipts or your checking account, if a whole month of spending feels like too much to sort at once.
Printing
Pick the paper that is in your printer before you download: US Letter is 8.5 × 11 inches, A4 is 210 × 297 mm. The PDF is made in exactly that size, and the spreadsheet's print settings use it too, scaled to fit the page width. Print the PDF at 100 % so the boxes keep their size. The month page has room for amounts written by hand; for larger handwriting, print it on bigger paper or enlarge it in the print dialog.
Budget online instead
If you would rather work in the browser, the budget planner splits your take-home pay into needs, wants and savings and compares your expenses with the targets. To fill the savings rows with a real number, the savings goal calculator turns a target and a date into a monthly amount, and the emergency fund calculator sizes your cushion. The debt snowball planner shows where extra debt payments go, and the net worth calculator tracks your progress over time.
Frequently asked questions
Is the budget spreadsheet really free?
Yes. Download it as often as you like and use it at home or at work. There is no signup, no email form and no watermark; the bottom of the sheet and of the PDF carries one small line with our web address.
Which programs can open the file?
The download is a standard .xlsx file, the format Excel uses, so it also opens in LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets. The totals are formulas, and the spreadsheet program works them out as you type. A quick preview on a phone or in a file browser may only show zeros, because previews do not calculate.
Why is the Difference column empty?
A row shows its difference as soon as you type a planned or an actual amount in it. Rows you have not used stay blank, so the sheet is easy to read. The totals of each group always show a number, starting at zero.
What does a negative number mean?
A negative difference, shown in red, means you spent more than you planned in that row or group. A negative left over means your expenses were higher than your income that month.
Can I rename or add categories?
Yes. Type over any category name to rename it. To add one, insert a row between two rows of the same group, so it lies inside the range the group total adds up, then click the total to check that its formula includes the new row.
Can I change the currency later?
The currency you pick sets the number format of the amount cells. To switch later, download the file again with the other currency, or change the number format of those cells in your spreadsheet program.