These are the best free budget templates around – mostly from fellow personal finance bloggers! How awesome is that? ;) I have to put mine at the top, of course, but ANY of these have the potential of working well nicely.
Remember, none of these budgets are perfect,
but you can tweak & edit and use the one that’s the most perfect
for YOU. I change mine up every once in a while – getting rid of the
parts that don’t make sense any more, and adding in those which do – but
the important part is FIRST choosing a workable template. So hopefully
one of these works.
Best Free Budget Templates & Spreadsheets:
Here are the best free budget templates I’ve found so far! If you come across any others you think are worth adding, drop me a note. I’m always looking for more great ones ;)
 “Financial Snapshot & Budget” @ Budgets Are SexyGoogle Doc | Excel | Example (filled in) | More details... A colorful and easy way to track your budget and overall Financial Snapshot! Room to budget per paycheck, detail your net worth (if you want), credit card balances, savings funds, total income, and an extra budget just in case :) |
 “4 Step Budget Template” @ Life After CollegeGoogle Doc | More details.... Most budgets are too cumbersome to be useful (in my humble opinion). Check-out this handy four-step budget: After filling in income, must-have expenses and nice-to-have expenses, you’ll get a “monthly allowance” for you to spend on discretionary items as you’d like, with the peace of mind of knowing that your main expenses are taken care of. |
 “FLOP – Financial Life on One Page” @ Christian PFExcel | More details | His other great templates! I love this one because it’s a single file for all your financial account details. It has three main purposes: a balance sheet, a place for all login info, and a financial roadmap. And Bob recommends keeping an updated file of this somewhere safe in case a family member needs at any point. |
 “Personal Monthly Budget” @ My Money ShruggedGoogle Doc | Net Worth Google Doc | More details... This budget spread sheet works because it allows you to put in projected and actual income and cost and then shows you the difference. It is a great way to be able to compare each category or individual areas. This budget is also broken up into different categories based on major areas of your budget – housing, transportation, insurance, food, savings, etc. |
 “2010 Budget Spreadsheet” @ Finance for a Freelance Life Excel | Blog Income | Freelance Income | More details.... This
budget spreadsheet is very basic and is meant to be adapted to any
person’s unique situation. It’s easy to add or delete lines and to
change the names of categories to better fit your life. For convenience
in tracking specific purchases throughout the month, it has a spending
log as the first page. This way, you can not only see how much you spent
in each category at the end of the month, you can track how purchases
added up. |
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 “E.O.D. Deluxe Budget 2.0″ @ Enemy of DebtExcel | More details..... EOD Deluxe Budget 2.0 is a comprehensive budget spreadsheet including a zero-based budget, an allocated spending worksheet, a checking account ledger, a savings allocation worksheet, as well as a lump sum payment schedule. |
 “Monthly Report Template” @ Fiscal FizzleMicrosoft Word | More details.... A monthly financial report presented to your family or significant other keeps everyone accountable, aware, focused on goals and progress, and gives you the opportunity to celebrate success. This short but powerful financial template includes areas for monthly cash flow review, net worth tracking, credit score monitoring, goal tracking, and a notes area to explain unusual financial activity for the month or upcoming months. While it’s easy to read and review with everyone out of “the box,” remember to customize this template for your own system! |
 “Free Budget Spreadsheet” @ Money Under 30Excel | Really Simple Budget | More details... Using the spreadsheet is easy. Enter the monthly amounts in the appropriate categories, estimating any value that fluctuates from month-to-month. Once you’ve entered the values, the spreadsheet will tell you how much you will have left at the end of the month to save or put towards debt. It will also tell you how close you are to an ideal income allocation (such allocation models are frequently used by banks and other lenders for determining your financial balance). |
 “How Much Debt Costs You” @ Debt Free AdventureGoogle Doc | More details.... Complete with CHART. Figure out how much your debt costs you each month. Specifically, how much of your loan payments are allocated toward interest (paying for the debt) and how much toward principal (paying the debt down.) *Included are 3 sheets: Data, Chart, and Print* |
Other Great Templates & Spreadsheets:
Sometimes less options are better, but I didn’t want to leave you
hanging’ if none of those above options did the trick for ya. Keep in
mind that all these spreadsheets & templates are customizable, but
see if you like any of these better: (I’m listing them out or else this
page would go on forever ;)
- USAA: Budget Worksheet (.pdf)
- Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Wedding Budget Worksheet (html)
- Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Gail’s Interactive Budget Worksheet (excel)
- 27 and Frugal: Beginner’s Budget (google doc)
- My Money Blog: Within Your Means (excel – created by leisure guy)
- My Money Blog: Spreadsheet #2 (excel – by Neil Rothma)
- My Money Blog: Spreadsheet #4 (excel)
- Pear Budget: Original Spreadsheet (excel)
- Punch Debt In The Face: Monthly Budget (google doc)
Aggregate Template Sites:
And if you STILL can’t find anything good…or you’re just addicted:
- Google Docs: Handful of Budget Templates
- Microsoft Online: Top 25 rated templates! (excel – out of 100+)
Best Online Budgeting Sites:
And now, we’ve got the places online where you can budget & track
all your financials instead of manually doing them yourselves. Well,
you’ll still have to manually keep up with this stuff online, but most
of these places make it super easy for you – my favorites being Mint & Personal Capital (although I personally still use spreadsheets). The best online budgeting sites around:
- Mint.com (free) – An EASY and super friendly online site that pulls in all your numbers from around your institutions, and plops them right there in a great interface for you to keep track of. They’re constantly adding new upgrades and options all the time, and it takes 15 secs to sign up :)
- **NEW** Personal Capital (free) – This one concentrates more on investments and net worth, and not so much budgeting per se, but it’s a GREAT tool to try out and people rave about them. I recently signed up myself and it’s awesome seeing everything in one spot – similar to mint.com or even my “financial snapshot” spreadsheet above, only it’s automated ;)
- Outright (free) – If you’re looking for a Mint-like service, but for *business* accounting, Outright is the one you want! They may work well for personal finances too (just not sure since I only use them for biz), but I can’t tell you how much time and stress I’ve saved with them! Really simple recording of all income and expenses to keep you on track, and they’re free too :) I’m a huge fan!
- Pocket Smith (free, w/ options to upgrade (not free)). This big pull with these guys is the unique way they set everything up – all via a calendar!
- Pear Budget (online version: free for 30 days, then $3/mo.) Haven’t used this one either, but from what I remember they have a pretty good rep around town. They’re a husband and wife team who’s sole goal is to make budgeting as simple as can be. Gotta admire that!
- You Need A Budget (free for 15 days, and then 1 time cost of $49.95?) This is the darling of the bunch, at least before Mint blew up. Almost every blogger I know is a fan of theirs and I have yet to hear a complaint. Although I don’t really stay on top of them much, either.
- USAA Money Manager – (free) This one’s a bit different than the rest since you actually have to have a USAA bank account to use it, but if you’re looking for an excuse to sign up this is it. It’s perfect for the “average” budgeter, and will hopefully get even more tweaked for those of us who like to get into more complicated stuff. (You can see my mini-review and snapshot of one of my accounts w/ USAA if you Contact Via Email)
GOOD LUCK everyone!! And if all else fails, there’s nothing wrong
with taking out a pen and paper and budgeting that money old school ;)
Whatever gets the job done!
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