Free Tool
Free Monthly Budget Planner
(Google Sheets Template)
After calculating your take-home pay, plug those numbers into this free budget template to see exactly where your money goes each month.
Monthly Budget Planner
3 tabs: Income, Budget by Category, and Summary with surplus/deficit tracking. Pre-built categories — just fill in your numbers.
↓ Download for Excel / Google Sheets →Downloads an .xlsx file — open in Excel or upload to Google Sheets via File → Import
How to Use It
Download the .xlsx file and open it in Excel — or upload to Google Sheets via File → Import.
Go to the Dashboard tab and enter your monthly take-home pay in the yellow cell. Not sure? Use the calculator above.
Go to the Budget tab. Fill in the blue (Budgeted) column for each spending category.
Throughout the month, enter actual spending in the green (Actual) column. The Difference column turns red when over budget.
At month end, copy your actuals into the Annual tab to track spending patterns across the year.
What's Inside the Template
Tab 1 — Dashboard
Enter your monthly take-home pay. See total budgeted, total spent, remaining balance, and % of income spent — with traffic-light color coding.
Tab 2 — Budget
24 sub-categories across Housing, Food, Transport, Health, Savings, Personal, Entertainment, and Giving. Blue = budget, green = actual, red/green difference.
Tab 3 — Annual View
Track spending month-by-month across all 12 months. Highlights outlier months automatically. Total column shows yearly spend per category.
Tab 4 — How to Use
Step-by-step setup guide with color key and tips for getting the most out of the planner.
Step 0
Don't know your exact take-home pay?
Use the calculator to find your net pay after federal taxes, state taxes, insurance, and deductions — then plug that number into the budget template.
Want Automatic Budget Tracking?
These apps connect to your bank and categorize spending automatically — no manual entry required.
$14.99/mo or $99/yr · Zero-based budgeting, serious savers
$13/mo · Apple users, automated tracking
$14.99/mo or $99/yr · Couples, shared finances