Excel templates
Family budget in Excel
Write down what comes in and goes out — the workbook sorts it by category and month, compares it with your plan and shows where the money goes.
Download free (.xlsx)Free · no sign-up
Works in Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers and LibreOffice.
Family-budget-Planmero.xlsx
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date | Category | Description | Amount | Type |
| 2 | 1/10/2027 | Salary | January salary | $2,400.00 | Income |
| 3 | 1/1/2027 | Housing (rent / mortgage) | Rent | $850.00 | Spending |
| 4 | 1/5/2027 | Energy and water | Electricity and gas | $120.00 | Spending |
| 5 | 1/3/2027 | Groceries | Supermarket | $96.40 | Spending |
| 6 | 1/12/2027 | Groceries | Supermarket | $74.20 | Spending |
| 7 | 1/8/2027 | Transport and car | Fuel | $60.00 | Spending |
| 8 | 1/15/2027 | Phone and internet | Mobile and internet | $35.00 | Spending |
How to useCategoriesPaymentsOverview
What's inside
- 24 categories you can rename, each with a monthly plan
- A list of payments with a category drop-down — no typing errors
- Year overview: every category by month, plan vs. actual, overspending in red
- Income, spending, balance and savings rate at a glance
- Two charts: income vs. spending by month and where the money goes
How to use it
- 1On the Categories sheet enter the year and, if you want, rename the categories. Set a monthly plan for each — what you expect to earn or spend.
- 2On the Payments sheet write each income or payment on its own row: date, category from the drop-down, a short description and the amount (always positive).
- 3The Overview sheet does the rest: totals per category and month, your plan for the year, the difference and two charts.
- 4Delete the example rows in January before you start with your own numbers.
Questions
- Does it work in Google Sheets?
- Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets — the formulas, drop-downs and charts work there too.
- Can I change the categories?
- Yes, rename them on the Categories sheet; the overview and the drop-down update by themselves.
- What are the example rows?
- A few sample payments in January show how it works. Delete them (select the rows' contents and press Delete) before you start.
Tips
- Write payments down once a week — it takes five minutes and the budget stays true.
- Red in the overview means a category is over its plan for the year so far.
- Savings rate = (income − spending) ÷ income. 10–20 % is a good target.
- Sinking funds: plan holidays, gifts and car repairs as a monthly amount so they are no surprise.