Google Sheets is an innovation by Google that lets everyone have free access to a very useful spreadsheet program. It has since become an effective budgeting tool. There are numerous Google Sheets budget templates that you can choose from.
Some of them are explored below. Know their basic features and find the one that will work best for your unique personal financial goals.
How To Do Effective Budgeting
It does not matter how small or big your income is. Your savings and your comfort of living depend largely on your ability to take control of your spending. Taking control entails effective tracking of both your income and expenses as well as your financial obligations. You cannot do all the maths alone. You need a budgeting tool that guides you to make smart financial decisions.
It is not enough that you earn a lot. You may earn a lot and still fall short of money and save nothing. List down your priorities, keep track of your expenses, commit to your financial plans and always be back on track. You make a budget for a purpose.
15 Free Google Sheets Budget Templates
1. Smartsheet Budget Template
Smart sheet budget templates look like spreadsheet interfaces. It is perfect for budgeting because it allows you to choose and create budgeting templates in Google Sheets.
You would be surprised by the budgeting template selections it offers because it caters to different markets. Students may use Smartsheet for their personal finance. Smartsheet also caters business needs. Users just have to choose or make the right budget template according to their personal or business needs.
Smartsheet also has collaboration features that make it more useful. It is now possible to set reminders, attach documents and share budgets with one another. Because Smartsheet is a pre-built budget template, it is so much easier for businesses to create a monthly budget, conduct monthly check-ins, improve accountability of team members, to name a few.
There is added convenience in using Smartsheet budget templates. By combining Smartsheet with G Suite productivity tools, there will be no need to send spreadsheet budget templates back and forth via email because it will be possible to update the spreadsheet without leaving your inbox.
2. Vertex42 Personal Monthly Budget
Vertex42 is perfect for an individual’s personal month budgeting needs. It provides some common budgeting categories like health, income, daily living, transportation, entertainment, savings and home expenses. You can make your own budgeting categories because Vertex42 allows customization.
These default categories are only meant to help you figure out which categories you may need and consequently input. It will all depend on your personal finance.
3. 20somethingfinance.com Personal Budget Spreadsheet
This free google sheet budget template enables you to track your budget for any given month in one whole year. It displays both income and expenses.
An itemized income and expenses is displayed on your google sheets to help you have a bigger and detailed picture of your budget. You would know how much monthly cash flow you have and this compels you to spend accordingly so you won’t run out of money for a year.
G.E. Miller, a famous personal finance blogger, does not only offer this free budgeting and downloadable budget planner. He also shows a step-by-step tutorial on how to personalize your google sheets.
4. The Measure of a Plan Budget Tracking Tool
The budget tracking tool contemplates a scenario that allows you to have a complete overview of your income and expenses through time. The dashboard displays your income and expenses as well as your savings over a time period of choice (last 1/ 3/ 6/ 12 months, year to date).
Moreover, this budget template provides a comparison of your income and expense metrics against your personal budget goals. This free budgeting template emphasizes the importance of listing down even your smallest purchases like new clothing, lunch outs, impromptu weekend trips, drinks with friends, among others. They actually make up a meaningful total of your expenses.
You can download this budget tracking tool either in an Excel version or a Google Sheets version. The former is more recommended than the latter because the Google Sheets version usually runs a bit slower. Either of the two, you would sure get the results you expect and deserve.
5. The Penny Hoarder’s Epic Google Budget Template
The ultimate goal of Epic Google Budget Template is to help families save a portion of their income. Melissa Giliam Shaw, a Penny Hoarder contributor, shares how she and her family managed to save $6,000 despite coming from a one-income household. They used this Google Sheets budget template to categorize which expenses are long-term and which ones are short-term.
Free Google sheets budget templates like this one allow you to track every expense. Should you spend more on a particular category, this Google sheets budget template would remind you to strike a balance by lessening expenses on other categories.
Being able to list down short-term expenses will make a difference because you will know where to make adjustments should you go over your budget in one category of expense.
6. Reddit Budget Spreadsheet
Reddit Budget Spreadsheet is probably one of the simplest Google sheets budget templates today. It’s an intuitive monthly budget template. along with Google Form.
It is easy to use because you can type in your expenses at once using your cellular phone through the Google Form. The Google Form is directly linked to the Google Sheets. Hence, all data are automatically sent or transferred to the Google Sheets.
The necessary information to track your expenses are: items, amounts and categories. All your expense entries for dining in during the month of January will be computed together. The result will appear in the Dining In category for the month of January on the Budget Page.
7. Keepify Budget Templates
Keepify offers free templates for budgets that take consideration of individual needs and preferences. When you’re a student and new to budgeting, then you can download its Student Budget Template like the one shown below.
For marrying couples, you may download the Wedding Budget Template. This spreadsheet contains the basic categories of marriage preparations. Just add some more categories on the spreadsheet as you go along the plan.
It also offers Zero Based Budget Template that is good in increasing a person’s foresight and tracking discipline on variable expenses that usually break the monthly budget.
8. Clark’s Monthly Budget
If you don’t like any complicated budgeting spreadsheet, then this one must be perfect for you. Clark’s Monthly Budget utilizes the basic monthly budget template available in Google Sheets. It encourages the use of the Cash Envelope System where you are taught how not to rely on credit cards for your spending.
9. The Finance Twin’s Monthly Budget Template
It primarily recommends budgeting on a monthly basis. The reason for this is that income and expenses will likely change on a monthly basis.
The Google Sheets Monthly Budget Template breaks your monthly expenses down into simple categories. There is also a tab displaying your Full Year Summary. This budget spreadsheet is best for those who are new to creating their first budget.
10. M$M Simple Budget Template
This is a free Google Sheets budget template with categories to list your income, expenses as well as financial obligations. You have the option to customize the labels for each category. You may also add notes. Moreover, you may view different time periods. These features help you properly track your expenses.
11. College Student Budget Template
College students should start budgeting as early as they can. This free spreadsheet helps them out by encouraging and letting them list day-to-day expenses. They should also use this for tracking student loans.
12. 50/ 30/ 20 Budget from Simple Budget Planner
These magic numbers are actually a formula to spend your budget wisely. You have to allocate 50% of your income to your immediate needs that could be food, rent, health maintenance, etc. The 30% goes to your wants like new clothing, shoes, smartphone, etc. Lastly, 20% of your budget should be kept as savings.
This free Google Sheets budget template is designed for both individuals and couples. Organizing and categorizing expenses are made easier by this budget template spreadsheet.
13. Free Wedding Budget Template
Couples planning to get married should definitely budget. Estimate your costs and avoid going beyond your budget by utilizing this free wedding budget template from Bridal Musings.
It readily contains different costs associated with marriage ceremony, reception, to name a few. What’s good about using this Google Sheets budgets template is that you can easily add other fields of costs not originally written.
14. Budgets Are Sexy’s Best Free Budget Templates & Spreadsheets
If you are looking for a free Google Sheets budgets templates that allow you to budget every paycheck, manage credit card balances, track savings progress, and the like, then this one might work for you.
15. The Budget Boy’s “Only Budget Spreadsheet You Will Ever Need”
If you want to create your own budget template, then check out for Ben Collins, a financial blogger. He offers some lectures on the “10 techniques to use when building budget templates in Google Sheets.” His ideas may not be new to you but they surely would ignite you to finally create one. It is always best when you get to create something from scratch.
Conclusion
Make use of the above-mentioned budget templates. They are your way out of your unscrupulous and directionless spending habits. Your way to financial security starts with effective budgeting.
All you have to do is find the right spreadsheet template. It is best if we make the most out of these innovative programs and applications that are widely available to improve our lives. Managing our finances does need to be difficult and painstaking. It can be done hassle-free, efficiently, and effectively.
People just need to look around and pick the template that is most applicable to their lifestyle, spending patterns, and income. Building a budget is a habit that needs to be practiced and sustained. Penny Saved team listed the best possible budget templates for you, and using these user-friendly software is one way to make sustaining this important habit possible.
