I have an article, How to Create a Budget that Works, that walks you through the process of setting up your own budget. The idea of creating and living by a budget may seem intimidating if you haven’t done it before, but it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. He uses one color for expenses that haven’t been paid yet and another color for ones that have.Īlso, check out this post on the basics of budgeting if you aren’t sure where to start.If you want to be in control of your money and make the most of what you have, maintaining a monthly budget is critical. Matt also likes to use this spreadsheet as a way of keeping track of which bills have been paid and which ones haven’t yet. Are you spending more on groceries every month? Then maybe you need to increase that budget category (and decrease another). The right side is broken down into 12 months so you can write in the actual amount you’re spending each month. The left side of the spreadsheet is your budget what you would ideally spend in a month. To save as an Excel spreadsheet go to file>download as>Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. To save as a google sheet go to file>make a copy. This is a google sheet but you can use it in excel as well. The default budget percentages are loosely based on Dave Ramsey’s recommended percentages, which I think is a good place to start, but do with it what you will! How to Make Your Own Copy to Use! This monthly budget is organized by category and color-coded (yep, I’m nerding it up!) plus I added a cool little percentage feature so you can figure out what percentage of your income is going to what category. There is a section specifically dedicated to homestead upgrades! I had a lot of fun making this spreadsheet for my own family and thought you guys might like it too. So getting my finances in order is sort of fun for me (well, as long as all of the ends meet). Check the directions below for saving a copy.)Īctually, I’m a spreadsheet nerd. In order to use this spreadsheet, you have to make a copy. (If you’re new to google sheets, no fear, it’s not too difficult. I wanted to share this FREE (and awesome) monthly budget template with all of you because, well, we’re buddies, right? Free monthly budget template – just for you!

Dave ramsey basic budget worksheet