When I started on my own, recording and managing my finances was non-existent. If you’re not good at keeping track of what you have in your accounts or what is coming or going from those accounts, this may be the answer for you. Having a budget system and dedication to documenting that information is essential. Software, apps, and even websites will help you tackle this. Here we’ve provided 10 spreadsheet templates to help you manage your finances, brought to you by our sponsor, NetSuite.
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What are your financial template options?
- Google Sheets Budget Spreadsheets You can get these from the Google Docs Template Gallery, where you’ll find some great options for Google Sheets. So what exactly can you expect to find for your budgetary needs?
Simple Budget Planner – For a more compact budgeting spreadsheet that lets you budget expenses by the annual and monthly income percentage.Monthly Budget – Comes complete with graphs and a detailed visual dashboard for your budget.Annual Budget – A detailed yearly and monthly budget tracking spreadsheet lets you project income and savings and keep a record of actual income and savings.
- Family Budget Planner This is like having your bank account, income statements, transactions, budget and expenses all rolled into one convenient document. It could get a little tedious to fill this out, but knowing how your money flows in and out of your household is essential. A spreadsheet can’t do everything dedicated software for this type of accounting can, but it is close for those on a tight budget wanting an alternative.
- Personal Monthly Budget Worksheet This spreadsheet helps you differentiate your monthly budget from your actual expenses. It will cover the difference between your budget and actual spending. It is formatted to make it easy to find where you may be overspending. Also, you can print this out on a single page for filing purposes.
- College Budget Templates College provides excellent learning opportunities but also a big hole in the pocketbook. Keeping track of where you obtain the finances for courses you take each semester, and the total balance of what you need to spend is a big deal. It will also help give you a clear total of what you spend each year on your education.
- Holiday Spending Budget Something I am terrible at is budgeting for Christmas. This template is a welcome option for planning the time of gift-giving throughout the year and keeping in mind the costs and budgetary needs for the holiday season. You can easily account for everything from gifts for the kids and parents to cards, decorations, special meals and anything else that may come your way.
- Travel Budget Do you like to travel and want to ensure that every dime is accounted for to stay within your budget? This visual dashboard lets you list your expenses and help you estimate your total travel costs. Seeing this and putting it all in perspective also helps to know whether you can afford that particular trip or if it will take some extra savings boosts.
- Kids Money Manager Do your kids do chores or earn their own money? If they do, this is an excellent way to keep track of their money on a printout or computer. It gives them the practice of managing their own money for college, tithing, savings, new bikes, or extra spending.
- Savings Goal Tracker If you budget much of your monthly savings for bills and needed expenses, do you designate goals for each of your future purchases? This would have been an excellent document for me leaving high school and jumping into the real world many years ago. This sheet can help track your savings for needs such as college, vacations, or holidays. The setting of goals feature interests me even now for things I’d like to save up for.
- Credit Card Account This template reminds me of balancing a checkbook only for credit transactions. Now online banking typically does this for you, but what if you want to keep a detailed record of your transactions, fees and payments? It’s just another method to manage your finances for various uses.
- Donation Tracker Looking to keep a record of donations from friends, family or organizations while keeping it simple? This template allows you to organize and track fundraising efforts easily and gives you a nice thermometer chart to see it come together visually.
All the best options for your budgeting needs
While budgeting spreadsheet templates are helpful for some, they aren’t the best option for everyone. It does, however, help to give one accountability, and it can help you improve your finances as long as you are committed to using the template you set up. Managing a budget doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be watched consistently. Choosing a template you can readily understand and use to manage your finances is the key to making this work. Spreadsheets alone won’t do the trick unless you do your part and feed the data it needs to function. If you’re planning to start using a spreadsheet, you should get into the habit of active budgeting. Creating a system you understand and maintain ensures you can keep your numbers updated and accurate.
