Nothing ruins a relationship faster than a drained bank account. These are wonderful resource to help get your marriage off to the right start. I also
highly not only a household budget spreadsheet but a wedding budget spreadsheet as well (you don’t realize how quickly those strands of ribbon add up until you map it out). If you are cringing just looking at the word “budget” check out the links at the end of this article they will help you get a better idea of what a budget is and how to use it for your benefit.
by Bob on
September 10, 2008
(This article is posted with permission from
Christian Personal Finance)
A reader recently asked me if I knew of any good and free budgeting spreadsheets. Personally, I love Excel and get a kick out of building spreadsheets, but I know not everyone is as interested in that as I am.
About the spreadsheets
Each one of the sheets below are free and are designed to be used with Excel, but will more than likely work if you use
OpenOffice (basically a free version of Microsoft Office). Some may also work with
Google Docs, but I have had bad luck with some of my imports into Google Docs.
Budgeting Software:
- YNAB Pro – YNAB is a software that is dedicated specifically to budgeting and it does it well.
- Mvelopes Budgeting System
– If you like the envelope system of budgeting – this is it, only with virtual envelopes that you manage online.
Each of the budgeting sheets below have their own strengths and weaknesses, so give try them out, see what works, and make tweaks and changes if necessary. If you have a spreadsheet that you have built or have found (that is free to distribute) please provide a link to it in the comments below.
Since we are talking about free spreadsheets, I will tell you about two I built and use. They aren’t necessarily for budgeting, but they help keep our finances organized.
- FLOP (Financial Life on One Page) – Basically my balance sheet to calculate my Net Worth, keeps track of account numbers, and other information about all my financial accounts.
- Bill Payment Schedule – I pay my bills twice a month. I use this sheet to make sure everything balances and gets paid at the right time.
If you are just getting started budgeting, I suggest reading this article first:
How to make a budget. Once you are finished, come back to this article and you can download one of these sheets.
Household budgeting Spreadsheets
Here are all the personal budgeting templates listed in no particular order.
A good and simple budget spreadsheet. The user has to enter each purchase and details in order to get full and accurate tracking of expenses.
Allows you to put in each item you purchase and the item’s category. It will then add up and compare the total amount spent with the amount budgeted.
This one is good if you are trying to add up income and expenses and find the difference between the two.
This one allows you to look at the whole year’s expenses and income with each month being a column in the sheet.
This sheet provides suggestions on how much you should spend on each item in the wedding. It also will help you think of expenses you might not have thought of.
Simple it is different than most because it works by pay period, rather than by month.
This is a really cool spreadsheet that helps you decide the best method for paying down your debts. It allows you to create a debt reduction schedule based on the
debt-snowball method. The first page is a basic
calculator for you to enter your information, choose your total monthly payment, and see a summary of the results based your debt reduction strategy. The second page is a printable
payment schedule to help you keep track of your progress.
Related articles:
How to make a budget and why
budgeting is like baking cookies.
Christian Personal Finance does a wonderful job explaining the world of finances and budgets.
