How to Do a Free Monthly Budget Spreadsheet
A free monthly budget spreadsheet is relatively simple to do and can be a great way to layout a financial plan for decreasing living expenses and increasing savings. This budget spreadsheet is free to adapt to any monthly spending cycle.
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Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Spreadsheet Software Program
- Monthly budget records
- Budget calculator
Instructions
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First make a list of all monthly budget income amounts including paychecks, commissions, bonuses, investment, and/or business profit to include in your free spreadsheet.
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Next list all proposed budget expenses including fixed payments, savings amounts, and free personal allowances. Brainstorm and write down everything you spend on a monthly basis and scheduled pay dates to organize into your spreadsheet.
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Next decide how to divide your monthly expenses on your free spreadsheet. You can separate them according to pay schedule, or budget category types like home, auto, entertainment, etc., or by spending priority like "must pay", "need", "discretionary".
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Then at the top of your free spreadsheet make three monthly column headings: 1. Proposed Budget Amount 2. Actual Budget Amount 3. Savings or Balance
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Estimate your monthly income and expense amounts and enter for each item under your Proposed Budget column of your free spreadsheet.
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Make a category at the bottom of your spreadsheet called Budget Totals and subtract your proposed expense amounts from your monthly income to get your total monthly income free at the bottom.
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After making adjustments to your monthly savings and spending categories you are now ready to enter your actual budget amounts on your free spreadsheet for tracking comparison.
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Tips & Warnings
Set your spreadsheet format to currency and adjust the decimal places to 2 or less.
round up expense amounts and be conservative with proposed income to control over budgeting.
use the free auto sum function tool on your excel program to calculate your budget amounts.
set your spreadsheet schedule to twice a month if you have a dual income household with differing pay periods or combine to budget monthly
try to free up 2 to three months income by adding amounts monthly to your emergency category for liquidity
