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Track Your Expenses and Save with a Budget Planner Worksheet
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Has the prolonged dismal state of the economy prompted you to consider creating a household budget planner? Did you know that on many websites you can download a printable budget planner—one complete with all of the necessary categories to help you plan more efficiently? According to financial experts, creating a monthly budget planner is a great way to track household finances and is recommended for all families, regardless of their financial standing or the current economic climate. In this article we will offer a couple of tips for borrowing and/or developing a budget planner worksheet, followed by a list of categories your monthly budget planner should always include.
The Budget Planner Worksheet: How to Obtain—or Create—One
There are a few ways to get your hands on a household budget planner—one to assist you in tracking and planning your family’s finances—and each of these methods can make the process simple and a lot less time-consuming. Below we will examine two of the more popular methods for securing these templates: downloading a printable budget planner and creating your own Excel budget planner.
Downloading a Printable Budget Planner
As you might expect due to the state of the economy, there are currently millions of families in roughly the same “economic boat” as you now find yourself in, but this, strange as it may sound, actually works in your favor in terms of creating a household budget. At present there are literally thousands of websites that are now offering a printable budget planner, and in most cases you can download these templates completely free of cost. These free budget planners come pre-printed with many different household finance categories, and the better ones will even perform some of the necessary calculations that can help you keep track of your budget on a daily basis. This makes the process—at least starting the process—virtually effortless and hassle-free.
Creating an Excel Budget Planner
If you’re unable to locate a printable budget planner online that suits your purposes, you may be surprised by how simple it is to create your own budget planner worksheet using Microsoft Excel—the software giant’s popular and multi-functional spreadsheet and database program.
So why Excel? Perhaps the most attractive feature of Excel is its ease of use and amazing versatility, which is probably why the program is so widely used—even by some of the world’s largest businesses and organizations. In Excel you can add as many budgetary categories as you wish, using both text and numerical data, and add formulas to certain cells that will instruct the program to perform the necessary calculations. This feature will help keep you on track with your budgeting and alert you when you have exceeded monthly limits in a given category. The good news is most computers come with Excel already pre-installed, enabling you to start today and create your Excel budget planner at no extra cost.
Budget Planner Worksheet: What Categories Should I Include in My Monthly Budget Planner?
If you have decided to create an Excel budget planner, the various categories you choose to include should be determined by your various income sources and monthly expenses.
• Income. When setting up your worksheet, the first thing you will want to list is your income, as the deductions you make will be subtracted from these totals. Be sure to list every applicable source of income, including all earned income, dividends, interest, etc., along with the dates each month when that income is received. Remember you do not have to set up an entire calendar year all at once. In fact, most experts recommend you begin with a simple quarterly budget (3 months), as many things can change during that period of time.
The next section of your budget planner worksheet will be dedicated to expenses. These should be divided into the two general categories we will explain in detail below: fixed expenses and variable expenses.
• Fixed Expenses. Fixed expenses are those that occur every month for roughly the same amount. These are usually mandatory expenses that cannot be changed, and are thus a good starting point when creating this section of the Excel budget planner. Expenses that would fall into this category include things like mortgage or rent payments, car loans, food, cell phone bill, vehicle registration and utilities (although utility expenses will vary depending on your usage and the season, they are still considered fix expenses because they occur every month and cannot be eliminated. Vehicle registration is also a fixed expense, despite the fact that it is paid only once annually).
• Variable Expenses. The variable expenses section of your monthly budget planner will typically contain more categories/items than the fixed expenses section, albeit for lower amounts. These types of expenses, while sometimes necessary, are the items that can potentially be manipulated or lessened to help you save money. Clothing allowance, entertainment expenses, gasoline (except the gasoline used to get to and from work) and miscellaneous spending all fall under this category.
One final item that was not mentioned above is savings. Experts say you should put at least 10 percent of your income aside for savings each month, before you spend unnecessarily on other non-mandatory items. Technically, savings would be viewed as a variable expense because it can always be changed, even eliminated, but those who get into the habit of counting this 10 percent as a fixed expense every month will breathe a little easier and sleep a bit better knowing there’s money in the bank in case of a financial emergency.
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