It’s really a matter of personal preference. Some people may find a weekly budget helps them stay focused on short-term, specific goals, while others find that the wide view of annual budgets gives them clarity on their long-term habits. Your budget period can be as little as a few days and stretch all the way to several years. Monthly budgets are quite popular and might be the first thing you think of, but it might help to consider other periods too. When creating your budget spreadsheet, you’ll need to specify the period over which you’ll track your expenses. You can note which subcategories are fixed (or fairly steady, like a job salary) or variable (like stock sales or contract work). The above concepts can also be applied to your income. Variable expenses: These expenses include things like dining out or shopping, in which the total from one month to another is likely to vary.Fixed expenses: Fixed expenses in a budget are line items that are unlikely to change in the long term. This includes things like your rent or mortgage, car payments, insurance bills and the like.Tracking individual bills for electric, water and heat under that larger “Utilities” category, for instance, may help you identify areas in which you could cut costs.Īnother way to track and categorize some of these items is based on whether they’re fixed or variable: If you wanted to get even more detailed, you may even be able to create additional subdivisions. Your expenses can potentially be divided into subcategories like dining, groceries and utilities, to name a few. For example, you may consider breaking down different types of income you may have (including job salary, investment dividends and rental income). Within those, you can divide each into different subcategories. While the exact number can vary from person to person, there are two categories that are helpful to have: income and expenses. This can vary from nearly nothing all the way to several hundred dollars, depending on the complexity of the program and your personal needs.Ĭategories help to organize your budget. Pricing: Last, but by no means least, is the price.If that’s the case, you might want a program that specializes in creating graphs quickly or a template that automatically builds and updates them for you. Perhaps you’re someone who really loves charts and graphs (more on those later). Additional features: While most spreadsheets use a common cell-based organization system, some of them offer unique additional features that may be worth considering.

Highly stylized templates may look cool, but can become distracting and difficult to work with from a practical standpoint. Layout and legibility: If you’re going to use and update this spreadsheet regularly, it helps to ensure that its layout lets you easily track your data.Are features you need to use hidden away in hard-to-find places? Are the menus overly complicated? Choosing a program or template that’s confusing to use or requires advanced knowledge from novice users can frustrate your budgeting efforts. User-friendliness: You’ll need to update your data regularly for your budget spreadsheet to be effective at tracking your finances.When choosing your spreadsheet program or template (PDF), it can be helpful to consider a few things: You may also be able to find pre-made templates you can use with some of the most popular spreadsheet programs. There’s a plethora of spreadsheet software to choose from, as well as several online budget planning apps. Choose a spreadsheet program or templateĪ logical starting point to building a budget spreadsheet would be to choose a program or template for this purpose. Consider visual aids and other features.ġ.Enter your numbers and use simple formulas to streamline calculations.Set your budget period (weekly, monthly, etc.).Create categories for income and expense items.Choose a spreadsheet program or template.Here are some steps that may help when building your own budget: It can help you track your income and expenses, identify areas where you might be able to save money and give you a more detailed view of your financial habits.Ĭreating an effective budget spreadsheet is often the first step toward taking greater control over your financial destiny. When it comes to managing your finances effectively, a budget spreadsheet may prove to be one of the most accessible tools in your arsenal.

Budgeting spreadsheet template