How to Design a Monthly Budget Worksheet
Designing your own monthly budget worksheet is an easy way to start getting a handle on your home finances. This budget worksheet can be set up to coincide with your monthly income schedule.
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Instructions
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The first step in designing your monthly worksheet is to find a budget template to download. Search for a free monthly budget template that has already been designed, or create a new one using a program like Microsoft Excel.
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Next decide on a budget schedule for your worksheet that best suits your monthly pay periods or coincides with your bill due dates. If you are a dual income household, you may want to schedule your budget worksheet around both monthly pay periods.
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Next design your worksheet with two columns across the top to record monthly amounts and use your rows across to list out your budget categories.
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Type "Monthly Income" as your first budget category at the top left of your worksheet and list all forms of income including salary, bonuses, commissions, investments, family business, etc.
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Then divide the rest of your worksheet into monthly expense categories depending on how you want to prioritize your budget.
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Two other examples of ways to categorize your expenses are: 1. Priority of Monthly Expenses Due (Must Pays, Necessities, Needs, Allowances, etc.) 2. Monthly Expense Type (Home, Auto, Entertainment, Taxes, Savings, Education, etc.) If saving money is your main goal, for example, you might want to use the "Monthly Expense Type" Method, starting with a "Monthly Savings" category.
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Once you have a basic worksheet design with all your budget categories listed, then you can begin to account for all monthly expense amounts that fall under each category.
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Now label each of your two budget columns across the top of your worksheet to record your monthly amounts. Make the first column "Projected or Proposed Monthly Budget Amount" and the second " Actual Monthly Budget Amount"
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Record all amounts in your "Projected Budget" column first to make adjustments and subtract from your income at the top to get a balance.
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Use the second column "Actual Budget Amounts" to record monthly income actually earned and spent for tracking purposes. Compare these amounts on your worksheet as you go to help make adjustments to achieve the monthly balance you desire.
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