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. 
But whether you like to create spreadsheets or just like to use them, we have a lot of good options for you!
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.
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.
Premium Budgeting Spreadsheet
This is my favorite Excel sheet I have found, but the downside is that it isn’t free. They do have a free demo, but the full-version is $15.
But if you don’t have the cash to spare, don’t fret, we have more than 10 other great spreadsheets below that won’t cost you a dime.
And 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.
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.
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.
Personal budgeting spreadsheet
A good and simple budget spreadsheet. The user has to enter each purchase and details in order to get full and accurate tracking of daily expenses.
Household budget template
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.
Personal Budget monthly spreadsheet
This one is good if you are trying to add up income and expenses and find the difference between the two.
Family Budget planner
This one allows you to look at the whole year’s expenses and income with each month being a column in the sheet.
Wedding Budget Template
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.
GLBL Budget Spreadsheet
Simple it is different than most because it works by pay period, rather than by month.
Debt Reduction spreadsheet
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.
Personal Budget Worksheet
A famous old Microsoft budgeting template. It is very simple, but has proven to be helpful with the 2,000,000+ downloads. I like this one because all it does is provides a sheet to add up your expenses and your income showing the difference.
Detailed personal budgeting Excel sheet
Very thorough, walks you through everything step-by-step, but just a little bit more that I am looking for. It is a really cool spreadsheet and will probably be very helpful to some people.
Super Basic Budgeting Sheet
This user-friendly Excel budget template has just the right amount of features to help you get your personal spending in order.
Thoughts about household budgeting
If you are just getting started budgeting I suggest reading two articles I wrote – How to make a budget and why budgeting is like baking cookies. From personal experience, I can assure you that you won’t get it right the first month. It’s okay, just keep making adjustments and it will get better and easier each month. Budgeting of some sort is critical if you want to master your finances or get out of debt.
If you are just starting, I wish you all the best and let us know about what you learn in the comments! Also, be sure to check out the article I wrote listing 15 places to get free budgeting software.
{ 73 comments… read them below or add one }
Just what I was looking for! Thanks!
No problem! Christina I will check it out… Thanks!
For anyone interested, here is the link that Christina mentioned…
http://niftythriftyhomemaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/tracking-your-expenses.html
These are great. I think I have finally found something I can use.
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Thanks for the consolidated effort!!
Here is another one you can use to track expenses when you are trying to figure out what you spend your money on when initially creating a budget: http://liberta.co.za/blog/expense-tracker-spreadsheet/
I created what I think is a pretty comprehensive Excel budgeting spreadsheet. Visit my blog to download it: http://www.seemymoney.net/2008/05/another-budget-spreadsheet.html
Thanks for the templates. There are some really good ones there.
I find that using excel or any computer based budgeting application is easier than using a paper based budgeting system as it allows you to run calculations alot quicker, save copies and print – hey aren’t computers just great!
Agreed – I wouldn’t want to do my budgeting on paper!! Excel is my friend and makes my life a lot easier!!
Thanks for your hard work. These are great!
A friend told me a few months ago about this little free online personal budgeting website, I have been using it for over three months now and it is too good to be free. I wish I had this at my disposal earlier in life before I went through my own hard financial lessons.
For those who want to benefit from a powerful online budgeting utility but do not want to give out access to bank accounts and personal identity, Out Of The Dark (OOTD) is worth a check at:
http://www.myexp.org/OOTD_gate.php
Happy budgeting.
If you’re looking for an online budgeting application, but still want to have the control of a traditional spreadsheet, you should have a look at Budgetoo.com. It’s 100% free and you also don’t need to provide your bank account info. Give it a try and let me know what you think:
http://budgetoo.com/
This couldn’t have come at a better time in our economy. Thanks for sharing this.
I don’t mean to offend anyone but was wondering….how do I know that the spreadsheets are safe to download?
I keep hearing so many horror stories of identity theft that I just don’t know what is safe…..or am I just paranoid for no reason?
Hey all,
I’m the one who created the Budget Ministry Spreadsheet. I think what Bob created is great, and I’m glad to see it.
I think it’s great that there are free budgets available now. I created an excel (or calc) yearly budget based on the envelopes idea. My wife and I have been using it since we were married and I’m convinced it has saved us many difficult conversations. Whether you use mine or another, it’s worth all the effort. I hope that God blesses you through this journey and grows us in the wisdom of good stewardship!
grace and peace,
square
Very cool, i’ll have to check them out and see if i should tweak or add anything to mine. I have a “financial snapshot/budget,” on my site that anyone can download for free, so just snatch it up if you want. It’s a bit colorful in hope it will keep you awake
haha…
thats the good job for the housewives ..to abt the unwanted expenses….
I used the Bill Payment Schedule spreadsheet, I altered it to fit me better, but its awesome, Thanks.
Thanks Bob, here is another free one http://www.budget5000.com/
yeah Thanks a lot bob, I used a couple Personal finance budgeting plans and this is great! I also found some data about this kind of stuff from here, http://manishathakor.com/about-femalefinanceexpert
When I clicked on Quickin Online free, it took me to Mint, which they say is their wholly owned subsidiary, and when I signed up, it wanted my bank account! I stopped there. In short, it seems that there is no Quickin Online free that doesn’t get the system staff into your personal bank account. I also tried to find another route to Quicken Online, but all Google options led to the same Mint web page.
Mint is actually a very good site, they ask for your information but that is so you can actually track your expenses. I did it a few years back and it is helpful. You can set up a budget and it shows you how much you are actually spending versus what you average you spend
Thanks Bob for this priceless financial advice. Thank you also for providing this advice through a Christian vantage point. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort that you’ve put into this site.
Hi Bob,
Could you please let me know where the”Household Budget Template” in this post came from? I had downloaded it long ago and improvised upon it. Now i want to upload mine on my blog giving credits to the person who developed the original one. But I have no idea who. Could you please help me on this?
Thanks!
Please can anyone say, is there a spreadsheet that makes predictions visibly, when you enter say all your direct debits, income, then your spending plans, it will show coloured lines (income, outgoing, actual cash level) i mean, there will be your actual cash level from work, directdebits, regular expediture you put in, then your actual cashlevel – so you can see if purchasing that coat on jan1st will mean you’re not going to manage to pay your phone bill, and if you purchase it jan 15th it will be ok? And so i can ram it through my thick brain in a baby-simple visual way what the impact of my purchasing decisions will be before i live them? I know i need to write it myself, but i am too lazy. Thanks if you know one, not important if you don’t. I’m poor, but the problem is anything, even chocolate for easter, throws out my budget as it’s minute.
@Dee
After a disaster involving my internet disconnecting itself while upgrading my security package, i have been reliant on WOT = web of trust, an addon for firefox (firefox=browser, addon you can google, or addon WOT) it’s been amazing, it blocks sites with poor reputations even when you click on them and it shows ratings for how safe links and sites are, i use bym to black my monitor (eyes, environment) so i can’t see the links (bym is great but not perfect) but WOT still works. It works on people rating sites, i think internet explorer has similar features, but i know this has protected my security for free lots. Also, if you have an unusual (eg firefox or something) or latest (latest IE for instance) browser and set it to automatic security upgrades, you will be pretty secure for free. Also there are plenty of christian addons for firefox eg porn blockers and stuff.
Hey Maia,
The budget spreadsheet I created does what you say. It allows you to create categories, put a certain amount of “cash” in each category based on your budget and shows you how much you have left. Each time you spend from your “clothes” category it takes the amount out of that category. But if you don’t spend any money for a particular month, it carries that amount over to the next month. I think that’s what you are looking for. It’s a save now, buy later plan as opposed to buy now pay later with interest type budget with I find works much better in the long run. Good Luck!
http://www.budgetministry.com
Grace and Peace,
Dave
I’m excited to try these! Thanks so much for sharing them.
{And I love that I found them on a Christian site and there are links in the sidebar to ways to look at my money from a Christian standpoint. This is great!}
Thanks for this collection of free budgeting templates! One category that seems to be missing is a budget for college students, whose day-to-day and month-to-month expenses (and income) tend to be very different from the general population. There aren’t many free, concrete budgeting tools available online to college students, but this is one of the best: http://www.saystudent.com/college-budget.html#aa
Hi Bob,
This is great info I teach a computer class to Veterans and they learn Excel. They are always asking about different spreadsheets I will link them here..
Peace,
Tanya
I think these spreadsheets are excellent tools. There is spreadsheets for every financial scenario a person may have. I also think they are timesavers. It gives a person a quick overview of their finances without have to take the time to create the spreadsheet. The more information, the better.
I would like to use the first spreadsheet listed, the Personal Budgeting Spreadsheet, but the pages are protected and it will not allow me to make changes to the months. Has anyone else had this problem and could you please tell me how to make changes?
Thank you!
Hey Mandy,
You just need to “unprotect” each page of the budget. The one issue you may have though is that if the page is password protected and you don’t know the password, you can’t “unprotect” the page. So you need the password. The budget I created has protected sheets but no password. You can find it at,
http://www.budgetministry.com
Best of luck and if you have questions feel free to contact me.
Dave
admin@feedinmom.com
hello,
these budget sheets are great for first time budgeters!
are they available in other currencies? i wouldlikeone in Rand (ZAR)
please let me know if this is possible.
thank you,
I have downloaded your wonderful Excel spreadsheet (personal budgeting spreadsheet). It is exactly what we are looking for to get our finances organized, however I am having the hardest time because we have more yearly variable expenses that the spreadsheet allows. When I insert rows and add in the additional information it does not transfer to the other monthly sheets.
I need 27 rows.
Sharissa,
If you need more space, feel free to try out the budget I created. It’s free to download and has room for over 50 different expenses. If you have any questions feel free to contact me any time and maybe I can be of help.
Find the budget at:
http://www.budgetministry.com
Grace and Peace,
Square
admin@feedinmom.com
I don’t use a spreadsheet (since spreadsheets are a bit overwhelming for me), but I found a super simple software that’s better for me. Search for ‘Innoslice’. this one gives the simplest way of entering daily expenses and tracking them. You should try this out before going to spreadsheets.
I cannot seem to get the personal budget template to download. Is there something I need to do differently other than just clicking?
Thanks so much!!
@Shannon, when you click the link it should pop up a window to download it – if not, shoot me an email and we can figure it out… christianpf.com/contact
I’d like to point out OpenOffice is not a “free version of Microsoft Office.” It’s a free _alternative_ to Microsoft Office.
Hey Guys,
I can suggest a bunch of a great tools related to personal and family budgeting
on http://www.spreadsheet123.com as well as some nice debt managements templates such as credit card payoff calculator
http://www.spreadsheet123.com/ExcelCalculators/credit-card-pay-off.html
for excel and calc and bunch of others all on the same website and all which are free.
Help.
So, I’m looking for a bill tracking spreadsheet that has 2 parts. The first I want to be just a running ledger like an online bank ledger… I.E. with columns for date, company paid, amount paid which gets deducted from the balance, an ‘income’ field for payments in, and a running balance. On another part, I would like to take individual companies and keep a running tab.. i.e. the ledger will show a mortgage payment every month, and on a separate sheet it will just show the deductions for the mortgage co.
Suggestions?
I’m NOT looking at creating a budget or using budgeting software… just tracking current bills and expenses.
Thanks for any replies.
Thank you so much for these spreadsheets. I just started using the personal budget worksheet, and it’s fantastic. I can finally keep track of all my finances.
Thank You
Anyone have a Debt Reduction spreadsheet that can deal with promotional rates?
Thanks for the excel spreadsheets. I am going to be sure to use them and pass it on,
Started using one…finally found one both my wife and I can use.
I loved these sheets, makes my budget making and keeping up with so much easier. Many thanks.
Spreadsheets are so under rated. Spreadsheets can be utilized some beneficial way in everything we do. From creating a household budget to planning a wedding. I think spreadsheets should be a required course in all schools
HELP!!!! I have no clue what I’m to do I know I need to set a Budget and I know that it would help my Family as well give me some peace of mind when it comes to money but I don’t know where to start?????????
Bob,
Thank you for another great article!
I was wondering if you would “make up” a budget for a small business with sample categories?
Thank you in advance!
~B
I’m now not certain the place you’re getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time finding out much more or understanding more. Thank you for wonderful information I was in search of this information for my mission.
It has very useful information!
I think we can use an expense management software on web or mobile either. Therefore it is available everywhere and whenever I need to record any expense. I try Costsbook it is so simple and helps me and my family a lot in better planning.
It has very useful information!
I think we can use an expense management software on web or mobile either. Therefore it is available everywhere and whenever I need to record any expense. I try Costsbook it is so simple and helps me and my family a lot in better planning.
Loved sharing your helpful budget forms! I shared them on my website along with daily resourceful tips! Come on over and see!
Hi, As I was checking out your site I some how got linked to ingdirect.com please tell me if this is an OK site. I some how thought it was part of your site.
Thanks,
Barbara
Hi Bob,
Thanks for providing such an excellent resource for general use. I’m actually looking for a spreadsheet which to keep track of rental properties, keep track of a small business and also track personal finance.
Getting these three coordinated I find to be mind boggling. Do you have any programs which might be helpful or can you provide any solutions?
Thanks again for all your efforts.
Jeff
Jeff, you’re going to love WaveAccounting.com. I just set it up for my website over at The Christian Dollar. You can track your personal and business finances all in one place! Let me know how it works out for you!
Hi there,
I’ve downloaded the Personal Monthly Budget spreadsheet which seems like an amazing tool and exactly what I’m looking for. I’ve unprotected all of the sheets so that I can add my own info, but I’m finding that if I modify the Master Budget (the 1st sheet), these changes don’t correspond to the monthly sheets. When I change an amount in the Master Budget, it also doesn’t calculate it correctly in the total. For example, if I change the monthly mortgage from $700 to $2318, the total is still $2867. Am I doing something wrong? Please let me know how to fix this. I’m so excited to use this tool!
I’ve been using the Household Budget Template. It fits me and my needs wonderfully. I do need to change some of the budget categories and the sub-lists that go with them. I went to Data Validation to change those and it just adds what I put, it doesn’t change them. How do I change those categories and sub-lists?
Thanks for the budget excel, love it!.
Thanks for this. I have recently launched a site about budgeting so it’s nice to see that you share other people’s spreadsheets in addition to yours. I have been building my own but think I’ll start passing the love to some of the other blogs out there that also have created their own spreadsheets.
These spreadsheets are awesome! But would you be able to make a Weekly Time Budget?
#11: Personal finance template from hloom: http://www.hloom.com/1291/free-invoice-templates/excel-finance-personal-template.html
Hope you add it to your list – it’s one of very popular templates on our site
thank you!
I started with a spreadsheet and finally I got to use a free budgeting online tool:
http://www.planthebudget.com
It is more automated.
Hey there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting
up my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any points or suggestions? With thanks
Wow exactly what i was looking for, love these spreadsheets
I have been using the Dave Ramsey budgeting techniques for years and can attest to the value of a good budget. What I have yet to find is a good budget spreadsheet. I have tried the personal Quicken, YNAB, and several of my own creation. My issue seems to be that my income is not as fixed as most budgets want it to be. I get paid bi-weekly and my wife is paid monthly. I get expense checks paid to me at random times. I have expenses for work as well as the costs of supplementing other households in the family. My budget has grown complicated to say the least.
Anyway, what I want is a spreadsheet that will help me allocate and track according to weekly schedules. A monthly schedule is not really adequate when you consider I may budget $1000 for the monthly groceries, but only have $200 available this week. Any ideas?
Muchas Gracias!…I am starting to organize my finances after tons of mistakes…Gracias!!! JUST WHAT I NEEDED!
Hi. My husband and i are just starting out with a structured budget and I am pleased to find such a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool. Thanks!
Hi Bob – thanks so much for this awesome resource for budget spreadsheets! Excel really is the BEST tool for budgeting!
Hi everyone – I am the one who created the “Super Basic Budget” (I hope you like it!) and I just wanted to mention that it does require Excel 2007 or 2010 for PC, or 2011 for Mac in order to work (because of tables, etc). Just don’t want anyone thinking it doesn’t work properly
Enjoy!
Great spreadsheet! Just one question, how come the personal budgeting spreadsheet does not have a total for the fixed expenses column?
I was wondering if it was possible to modify personal budget spreadsheet so I can add more variable expenses.
Thanks for your time.
It’s a good spreadsheet and it has me motivated to start tracking my spending. Thank you!
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