Personal Budget Excel Spreadsheet
Whether you're venturing out on your own for the first time or just realizing you need to get your personal finances under control, one thing is certain - you need to budget. If you are trying to create a personal budget, a good place to start is our free personal budget spreadsheet template in Excel, which you can download below. Creating a budget spreadsheet was one of the first things I ever used Microsoft Excel for. Although I am an avid Quicken user now, I still use Excel when I work with my budget. If you are just getting started, read How to Make a Budget and 5 Basic Budgeting Tips.
The personal budget spreadsheet below is one of my original budget templates, but I now have some more powerful templates for you to try. If you'd like a way to both create and manage your budget, try the new yearly Budget Calculator or the all-in-one Money Management Template.
Personal Budget Spreadsheet
for Excel, OpenOffice, & Google Docs
Microsoft Excel® 2002(XP) or Later
License
Personal Use Only
Questions?
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Get OpenOffice Version
Google Docs Version
Like my family budget planner, this personal budget spreadsheet can be used to create a yearly budget. By planning many months ahead, you can account for variable expenses and estimate how major life changes like moving, changing jobs, or purchasing a home may affect your financial future.
"No Installation, No Macros - Just a simple spreadsheet - An original creation by Dr. Jon Wittwer of Vertex42.com"
Budgeting Tips for the New Year
Rate and Review this Personal Budget Spreadsheet
More Budget Spreadsheets
- Monthly Budget - The monthly version of the above spreadsheet.
- Household Budget Worksheet (monthly) - More detailed and includes child expenses.
- Family Budget Planner A yearly budget planner, with the same categories as the household budget spreadsheet.
- Budget Worksheet - Our original selection of home budget worksheets.
Why Use Excel for your Personal Budget?
First off, if you are reading this, you should congratulate yourself! The fact that you are concerned about creating a personal budget is the first step to your financial freedom (whatever that means...it sounds good, though)
The reason I use Excel when working with my home budget is that I have complete flexibility in how I keep track of the information. For example, I like to use cell comments to explain certain budgeted items in more detail (such as the fact that in May, there is Mother's Day and a couple of birthdays to remember).
Creating a simple personal budget (even if it is only on paper) is one of the first steps in gaining control of your spending habits. BUT, I strongly recommend using Quicken to keep track of your expenses. A budget isn't much good if you don't track what you are spending your money on.
I started out using Excel to do everything, but converted to Quicken after a friend showed me how easy it was to keep track of checks, credit card charges, etc. I still end up exporting reports from Quicken into Excel, though.
By the way, since you may be looking for a personal budget spreadsheet, you may want to consider reading a book on personal finance. The one that got me started was "Personal Finance for Dummies".
Make a Budget