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19 FREE Personal Budgeting Spreadsheets (Excel)
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.
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GatherLittleByLittle.com 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. |
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MyMoneyBlog.com The alternative to bulky categories. Simply use the dynamic drop-downs to assign categories. This leaves room for entries and remarks. |
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PearBudget.com It takes awhile to get oriented to this spreadsheet. The interlocking column layout could require serious tweaking if you want to add categories. |
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RateState.com Interesting alternative for zero-based budgeting, with a running remainder on the right side. Is it more visually useful than a grand total? |
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MyMoneyBlog.com The basic "year-on-one-page" format, with columns for Budget, Actual, Diff. Note: no subtotals for expenses. |
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MDMproofing.com Has a few nice touches compared to most other spreadsheets: the graph and the display of individual items in the "variable" section. |
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MDMproofing.com 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. |
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DIYplanner.com Basic but clean. Tracks planned vs. actual, and links the montly sheets together. |
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BudgetsAreSexy.com 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. |
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Microsoft Office Online The basic category-variance format, featuring color arrows for extra pizzaz. |
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Microsoft Office Online AFAIK, despite having different names, most Microsoft budget spreadsheets are similar, except for the formatting. |
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Microsoft Office Online (see above) |
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Microsoft Office Online (see above) |
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IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com The whole expense section looks wild ‘n’ woolly, but whatever works. |
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GetRichSlowly.org 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. |
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Microsoft Office Online Another "year-on-one-page" gridsheet. The problem: it does not appear to have any place for actual spending. |
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Microsoft Mactopia (Mac) If you want a basic monthly budget, this does not have mid-month splits, nor does it roll from month-to-month. |
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Microsoft Mactopia (Mac) This only helps with planning a budget, not sticking to it. Maybe it is meant to be used with the spreadsheet above? |
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MillionaireMommyNextDoor.com 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. |
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GetRichSlowly.org Supposedly, this version was a big improvement. However, it got corrupted or is no longer encoded correctly. Maybe you’ll have better luck? |
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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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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.
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.
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!
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 …
@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.
Nice resource list! I need to do something better with my budgeting. I’ll have to come back and see what fits best. Thanks!
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
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?
This is a great list. I will have to play around with it to see which one I like the best.
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!
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/