What is a Monthly Budget Template?
Monthly budget templates offer you an easy way to create a budget from scratch. They come with editable sections to enter your income and the different categories of expenses each month.
How Does a Monthly Budget Template Work?
Depending on which template you use, you can enter individual expenses manually or upload copies of your receipts. Many templates and apps will calculate your expenses to compare them against your income. The budgets may also categorize your purchases to see where your money goes each month.
Should You Use a Budget Template or an App?
Monthly budget templates and apps can make budgeting easier. You may find a free template works best for you, but a paid version of the app may be perfect for you if you struggle with budgeting or are first getting started.
How to Choose the Right Budget Template
Monthly budget templates are an excellent way to get started making a budget. If you’ve never created a budget before, these monthly budget tools will help you see your spending habits and help reach new personal saving goals.
NerdWallet
This monthly budget worksheet can help you create a recommended 50/30/20 budget whether you’re a college student, a parent, a senior, and so many more situations.
Google Sheets
Make a copy of this personal monthly budget template, and you can fill out all your expenses in your very own Google Sheet. It lays out expense, including health insurance, maintenances, and everyday living expenses.
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft offers a budget template with separate categories for family budgets, business budgets, and even budgets for startups.
PearBudget
PearBudget is an online tool that doesn’t require a credit card or personal information. This budget template allows you to enter your receipts and use the envelope system of budgeting that can help you stay within your categories each month.
The Budget Mom
The Budget Mom has a helpful template complete with a list of instructions for using it. There are separate categories for fixed and variable expenses and debt and savings that help you stay on top of everything in one place.
Evernote
Evernote offers you a free budget template that allows you to record your monthly savings goal and compare your expected costs with your actual expenses each month.
Clever Girl Finance
Clever Girl Finance offers you the option to print your budget or keep it virtual with an online spreadsheet. The worksheets even come with questions that help you brainstorm ways to save money or increase your income.
Mint
There’s an app for everything. Mint is an app that helps you set up a budget based on your spending patterns. Its daily balance feature will show you how close you are to running out of money each month, making it easier to stick to your budget.
You Need A Budget
You Need A Budget is another app that helps you create a budget using a template with different categories. The app is free to use for the first 34 days, after which you must pay a small monthly fee to continue using it. You can use it to see if it’s worth your money to pay for the app.
Consumer.gov
This worksheet from the Federal Trade Commission is a simple yet effective budget template that helps you compare your income to your expenses. You can separate fixed monthly expenses from variable costs s using the “Other expenses this month category” to create a new budget each month.
For more budgeting tips, check out the other School of ACE budgeting blogs and get started making your own budget today!
