Tracking monthly expenses in a budget spreadsheet or template can make managing your money a little easier. Whether you want to use an Excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheet to define and track a budget — or a fully functional online calculator — the budgeting tools below are among our favorites.
Wherever you find a budget spreadsheet or template, do some research before downloading it. Checking online reviews and downloading budget templates from only websites you trust will help you avoid phishing viruses.
Microsoft Office Excel budget templates
How it works: Maintaining a spreadsheet requires discipline, and creating a spreadsheet from scratch takes time. Save yourself the hassle of setting up rows, columns and formulas by using a pre-made Excel template from Office. Templates include a household expense budget, holiday budget planner and event budget.
What we like: There’s a template for just about every budget situation, from simple to complex. Access Excel online and collaborate with others in the same document at the same time.
Where to get it: Visit templates.office.com and type “Budgets” in the search box to find an Excel file to download. Or sign in to Microsoft and edit in your desktop browser.
Google Sheets budget templates
How it works: Google Drive is a file storage service where users can create, upload and share files. Get 15GB of storage for free or upgrade if that's not enough. The Sheets app for Drive includes pre-made templates, such as an annual budget and monthly budget.
What we like: You can bring your budget with you by logging in to your Google Drive account from your smartphone, tablet or computer. You can also share access to a household budget with other members of your family.
Where to get it: Sign in at google.com/sheets, then browse the template gallery, which you can find at the top right of the page.
A smart view of your financial health
Get a quick read on how you’re set up to meet expenses and money goals.
How it works: The budget planner enables you to input your monthly income and expenses. With that information, the worksheet shows how your finances compare with the 50/30/20 budget breakdown, which recommends that 50% of your income goes toward needs, 30% toward wants and 20% toward savings and debt repayment. You can also download these worksheets in Excel.
What we like: This thorough planner prompts you to consider a wide range of expenses — from life insurance premiums to travel expenses to credit card payments — so you don’t miss anything. You can also see worksheets specific to your situation, whether you’re a college student, parent, homeowner, senior or none of those.
Where to get it: Learn more about thefree budget plannerand use it directly on NerdWallet. You can alsodownload the spreadsheet here.
Before you build a budget
NerdWallet breaks down your spending and shows you ways to save.
SEE YOUR SPENDING
The Federal Trade Commission’s budget worksheet
How it works: The Federal Trade Commission offers a website to educate consumers about money, including how to budget. To get started, consult its "Make a Budget" worksheet. Download the PDF and fill in the fields to see whether you’re making more than you spend or spending more than you make.
What we like: Numbers and formulas can make budgeting a turnoff, but this simple worksheet is the furthest thing from intimidating. It’s a great jumping-off point if you’ve never budgeted before.
Where to get it: On Consumer.gov, download the budget PDF from the "Toolbox" tab.
More ways to take charge of your budget
Researching budget spreadsheets and templates is already a solid start in managing your money. If the tools above aren’t a good fit, you’ve got other options — including signing up for a free NerdWallet account to view your cash flow and see how it matches the 50/30/20 budget guidelines.
Learn about the various monthly expenses you’ll want to track.
Try an app that tracks and categorizes your spending. Check out the best budget apps for 2023.
For an idea of how much of your monthly income to spend and save, try our budget calculator.
If you want to go offline, read one of these expert-recommended budgeting books.
Or, if you need to back up and learn more about budgeting, read how to make a budget.
By dividing your funds up into digital envelopes labeled with their purposes, such as rent, groceries, bills and entertainment, the Goodbudget app helps you track spending while giving every dollar a purpose. Plus, the free version offers plenty of functionality.
Google Sheets' native free monthly budget template is a user-friendly income and expense tracker. It allows you to plan and track your expenses every month, ensuring you stay on top of your financial goals.
The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.
The 70-20-10 budget formula divides your after-tax income into three buckets: 70% for living expenses, 20% for savings and debt, and 10% for additional savings and donations. By allocating your available income into these three distinct categories, you can better manage your money on a daily basis.
According to its parent company, Intuit, Mint wasn't making enough money, so Intuit began the app's closure in January. On March 23, Mint users will no longer be able to access their account data, which could include over a decade of their spending and financial history.
Once your Google account is set up, you can explore the wide variety of budget templates available in Google Sheets. These templates are designed to suit different financial needs and preferences. Here are a few types of budget templates you can find: Monthly budget.
On a $60,000 salary, which roughly translates to $50,000 after taxes (depending on your location and tax rates), 60% would be about $30,000 per year, or $2,500 per month. Savings (20%): This portion should be allocated towards your savings, investments, emergency funds, or debt repayment.
Consider an individual who takes home $5,000 a month. Applying the 50/30/20 rule would give them a monthly budget of: 50% for mandatory expenses = $2,500. 20% to savings and debt repayment = $1,000.
The 50/30/20 budget rule states that you should spend up to 50% of your after-tax income on needs and obligations that you must have or must do. The remaining half should be split between savings and debt repayment (20%) and everything else that you might want (30%).
The basic rule of thumb is to divide your monthly after-tax income into three spending categories: 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings or paying off debt.
Allocate 50% of your $3000 to your needs, 30% to your desires, and 20% to your savings. But remember, these percentages are just a guideline and not a hard and fast rule to follow. Be flexible. Do it if you need to allocate more than 50% to your needs or cut back on savings.
The YNAB app is the best budget app if you're not interested in linking anything directly to your bank account. While YNAB does allow you to automatically sync your accounts and many people prefer to do it that way, you don't have to.
There is no fee to use the basic version of Mint. However, if you decide you don't want to deal with the ads that come with the free version, you can get the ad-free version of the app for $0.99 a month. If you want to upgrade to Mint's premium version, which is also ad-free, it will set you back $4.99 a month.
Mint, a budgeting app acquired by Intuit in 2009, is shutting down as of Saturday, March 23, 2024. Mint shows users an overview of their financial well-being by displaying the current status of multiple linked accounts on one screen.
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