How to Make a Budget in Spreadsheet Format

If you haven't had success keeping track of your household budget on paper or using a budgeting software program, you may have luck making a budget using spreadsheet software. A spreadsheet budget allows you to create your own income and expense categories, so it is truly tailored to your needs. Unlike a paper budget, a spreadsheet budget will tally totals for you using the sum function. You can also program a spreadsheet to compare your expenses to your income, and your actual expenses and income to your anticipated expenses and income.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with spreadsheet software
• Pay stubs and receipts

Instructions

1. Open a new, blank spreadsheet. Create a new sheet for each month of the year and label them as such.

2. Type your monthly expenses into the first column. Place one expense into each row, such as "Housing" in the first row, "Car" in the second, "Groceries" in the third and so on.

3. Type the estimated amount of each expense in the adjacent rows. Dedicate the third column of the spreadsheet to the actual amounts of each expense, which you will input at the month's end to compare.

4. Type =SUM(B2:B15) in the 16th row of the estimated expense column. "B" is the letter of the column and "2" and "15" correspond to the first and last rows that contain expenses. This is the sum function, which will add up your total estimated expenses.

5. Type =SUM(C2:C15) in the 16th row of the actual expense column. "C" is the column's letter this time and "2" and "15" are still the rows. It will total up your actual expenses. At the start, this number should be zero, unless you have inputted actual expenses already.

6. Type "Income" into the first row of the next column. Type your anticipated monthly income in the 16th row of the first column on the spreadsheet. Type your anticipated income as a negative number.

7. Input =SUM(D2:D14) into the 15th row of the income column. D is the column's letter and "2" and "14" are the first and last rows of income from wages, interest and dividends. This will total up your actual income for the month.

8. Type =SUM(D15:D16) in the 17th row of the income column. This will add your anticipated income to your actual income. If you earned more than you expected, the sum will be a positive number. If you earned less, it will be a negative.

9. Set up tallies in the other columns of the spreadsheet. For instance, use column "E" to track your food spending through the month. Put your anticipated expense in the 16th row of the column. In the 15th row, input =SUM(E2:E14) to get the total of your spending. In the 17th row, input =SUM(E15:E16) to compare your anticipated and actual grocery spending. Input each actual amount as a negative number. Repeat, setting up columns to track other expenses, such as savings, clothing and gas.

References

• Integrate Learning: Excel Budget Set-Up
• USD: Sum Function

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish