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19 FREE Personal Budgeting Spreadsheets (Excel)

Posted by Sean | Posted under Budgeting, Spreadsheets, Tools | July 30, 2008

FREE Budgeting Spreadsheets…
The Mother Of All Comparisons

If you use Quicken or MS Money, do you use it proactively or reactively?

Almost two years into Quicken, I realized I’m using it very reactively. Doh!

In other words, I am 1.) dumping my expenses in for 2.) analyzing sometime in the future and 3.) kinda-sorta influencing my spending. Compared to 1.) knowing where my money goes before the month begins and 2.) making smarter tradeoffs mid-month.

Instead of linking to zillions of articles on budgeting, here is one of the best. The author uses an Excel spreadsheet, one of the 19 below, and I think it has two advantages: customizable and free* (if you have Excel, or can convert it)

My goal is to find the spreadsheet that works for me, or better define my requirements and design my own. I’m a huge Excel geek, so I’ll probably end up designing my own, but less geeky types may still benefit from this research.

List: 19 Popular Budgeting Spreadsheets

Not in order of anything, although a few of my newfound favorites are at the top.

 

GatherLittleByLittle.com
GLBL Budget Spreadsheet

If you are paid bi-monthly, this might be the budget spreadsheet for you. Clean and logically grouped on the main sheet, it has linked sheets for transaction descriptions.

MyMoneyBlog.com
Spreadsheet #2 "Neil"

The alternative to bulky categories. Simply use the dynamic drop-downs to assign categories. This leaves room for entries and remarks.

PearBudget.com
Original PearBudget

It takes awhile to get oriented to this spreadsheet. The interlocking column layout could require serious tweaking if you want to add categories.

RateState.com
Free Budgeting Tool

Interesting alternative for zero-based budgeting, with a running remainder on the right side. Is it more visually useful than a grand total?

MyMoneyBlog.com
Spreadsheet #5 "Tony"

The basic "year-on-one-page" format, with columns for Budget, Actual, Diff. Note: no subtotals for expenses.

MDMproofing.com
Spending Plan Spreadsheet

Has a few nice touches compared to most other spreadsheets: the graph and the display of individual items in the "variable" section.

MDMproofing.com
SimpleBudget Spreadsheet

It says it is simple, and it is not lying. Basically, it uses a few huge columns (one for revenue, two for expenses) which are netted.

DIYplanner.com
Budget Template

Basic but clean. Tracks planned vs. actual, and links the montly sheets together.

BudgetsAreSexy.com
Sexy Budget

Liking the colors more than the layout. It seems uniquely designed for one person’s finances. Nothing wrong with that, just not sure it works universally.

Microsoft Office Online
Personal Monthly Budget

The basic category-variance format, featuring color arrows for extra pizzaz.

Microsoft Office Online
Monthly Family Budget

AFAIK, despite having different names, most Microsoft budget spreadsheets are similar, except for the formatting.

Microsoft Office Online
Personal Monthly Budget Planning

(see above)

Microsoft Office Online
Family Monthly Budget Planner

(see above)

IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com
Budget Spreadsheet 2

The whole expense section looks wild ‘n’ woolly, but whatever works.

GetRichSlowly.org
Version 1

This is for planning a budget only, and does not track expenses vs. budgeted. But as far as planners go, it looks like one of the better ones.

Microsoft Office Online
Personal Budget Worksheet

Another "year-on-one-page" gridsheet. The problem: it does not appear to have any place for actual spending.

Microsoft Mactopia (Mac)
Monthly Home Budget

If you want a basic monthly budget, this does not have mid-month splits, nor does it roll from month-to-month.

Microsoft Mactopia (Mac)
Personal Budget

This only helps with planning a budget, not sticking to it. Maybe it is meant to be used with the spreadsheet above?

MillionaireMommyNextDoor.com
Budget w/Time & Values

Not exactly what I was looking for, but this is clever. Looks at expenses in terms of Needs vs. Wants, to see if you really want to work all the hours needed to pay for everything.

GetRichSlowly.org
Version 2

Supposedly, this version was a big improvement. However, it got corrupted or is no longer encoded correctly. Maybe you’ll have better luck?

Comparison of Features

Confused by too many choices? Yeah, me too.

Here are some ways the spreadsheets are different.

Spreadsheet Breakdown Yearly Instructions Sample
BudgetsAreSexy.com
Sexy Budget
Bi-Monthly No No No
DIYplanner.com
Budget Template
Monthly Yes Yes No
GatherLittleByLittle.com
GLBL Budget Spreadsheet
Bi-Monthly No No No
GetRichSlowly.org
Version 1
n/a n/a Yes No
GetRichSlowly.org
Version 2
??? ??? ??? ???
IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com
Budget Spreadsheet 1
Monthly No No Yes
MDMproofing.com
SimpleBudget Spreadsheet
Monthly No Yes Yes
MDMproofing.com
Spending Plan Spreadsheet
Monthly No Linked Yes
Microsoft Mactopia (Mac)
Monthly Home Budget
Monthly No No Yes
Microsoft Mactopia (Mac)
Personal Budget
Monthly No No Yes
Microsoft Office Online
Family Monthly Budget Planner
Monthly No No Yes
Microsoft Office Online
Monthly Family Budget
Monthly No No Yes
Microsoft Office Online
Personal Budget Worksheet
Monthly Yes No No
Microsoft Office Online
Personal Monthly Planning
Monthly No No Yes
Microsoft Office Online
Personal Monthly Budget
Monthly No No Yes
MillionaireMommyNextDoor
Budget w/Time & Values
Monthly No Linked No
MyMoneyBlog.com
Spreadsheet #2 Neil
Monthly Yes No Yes
MyMoneyBlog.com
Spreadsheet #5 Tony
Daily Yes Yes No
PearBudget.com
Original PearBudget
Monthly Yes Yes Yes
RateState.com
Free Budgeting Tool
Bi-Monthly No Yes Yes

This Is Only The Budgeting Beginning

If I missed any fantastic free spreadsheets, I’ll make one revision to this post. Any future budgeting topics will get their own post. Like, if I can put together a "dirt simple" monthly budgeting spreadsheet that is unlike any of the above, I’ll post it for free here at Financial Ramblings. [ email updates ] [ RSS feed ]

More Links on Zero-Based Budgeting

Making Every Penny Count With A Zero-Based Budget - wisebread.com

Zero-Based Budgeting = Active Balanced Budgeting? - wikipedia.org

Feedback

If you are already budgeting with a spreadsheet… does it look like any of these?

If you are thinking about using a spreadsheet, too… did you find this post useful?

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Comments

11 Comments so far
  1. Levi Currit August 3, 2008 7:05 am

    Hey, don’t forget Mint.com. It’s fairly new, but has an auto-budgeting system built into it. It’s intuitive too, since it can tie into all your online accounts.

  2. MoneyEnergy August 3, 2008 10:20 pm

    wow, thanks for rounding all of these up. You are the spreadsheet king! I’ve never found spreadsheets useful for my finances, but this makes me want to take another look.

  3. Budgets are Sexy. August 4, 2008 6:07 am

    This is a freakin’ GREAT analysis! I wish this were around when i was working on my original budget :)

    The cool thing about this stuff, is that everyone works a bit differently and has their own budgeting style. If you can find one that works for YOU, and one that you’ll actually CONTINUE using, you’re all set!

  4. Jeff August 4, 2008 1:30 pm

    Wow, this is great. I have been meaning to sit down and work out a new budget for myself … these are just what I need to get on the ball. Now I just have to figure out which one is the best …

  5. Sean August 4, 2008 1:54 pm

    @Levi

    Thanks for the suggestion. I know of Mint, but did not want to start there. The thinking was if I don’t like a website, I have to start all over at another website. But if I feel limited by a spreadsheet, I can just hack away at it. Maybe I’ll try Mint.com or another website in parallel when there is less of a time crunch.

    @MoneyEnergy

    Thanks for the kind words. Although if you aren’t into spreadsheets, I’d probably keep doing whatever works.

    @Budgets are Sexy

    JMoney, definitely! While I was looking for a template, thus somewhat generic, your budget is a perfect example of how you can get creative with modifications. I can only imagine how much fun you have with that sexy budget. :-)

    + + +

    By the way, I ended up using a lightly modified version of the “Neil” spreadsheet at MyMoneyBlog.com.

  6. FFB August 4, 2008 2:44 pm

    Nice resource list! I need to do something better with my budgeting. I’ll have to come back and see what fits best. Thanks!

  7. Another Personal Finance Blog August 4, 2008 5:12 pm

    I have also created what I think is a fairly handy budget spreadsheet that can be downloaded for free here: http://another-personal-finance-blog.blogspot.com/2008/05/another-budget-spreadsheet.html

  8. Steward August 5, 2008 2:47 pm

    This is pretty cool, thanks for putting these all together. Its nice to have some of the options in one place with such pretty pictures. Speaking of which, how did you get those pictures in there?

  9. Brad August 5, 2008 3:42 pm

    This is a great list. I will have to play around with it to see which one I like the best.

  10. Ben August 13, 2008 7:22 am

    Sean, This is a great post for a few different reasons, one of which I like because it has a nice approachable compilation of all the free budgets out there, and a reviewed comparison on them. Thanks for mentioning us!

  11. BTGNow.net August 14, 2008 7:54 pm

    I would be curious to see how the budget template I created stacks up against these! You can check it out here: it’s simple, but I think it’s easy to use and provides useful feedback on a person’s spending habits. What do you all think?

    You can download it here: http://www.btgnow.net/2008/07/btg-download-wheres-my-money-excel-budget-template/