Money management is a crucial aspect of living that we often struggle to get a hold on. From cutting down those little expenses that drain your income to saving for that new home or car or investing in your friend’s business. There’s usually a lot going on.
Several budgeting templates exist to make these things easier—planning in particular. You are likely a curious cat who wants to explore the various options out there and pick for yourself which one fits you and your needs.
We have good news for you! There is one for nearly every aspect of budgeting needs you might have. Here, we’ll share the 10 best free budget templates in Google Sheets without you having to look for the from amongst the thousands out there.
What are budgeting templates in Google Sheets and why use them?
Budgeting templates are editable templates that let you plan your finances by keeping track of every aspect of your income and expenditure.
Yes, that is what it all fundamentally boils down to—income vs expenses.
If you are drowning in expenses or wondering where your income disappears, then you can do no wrong by planning your budget with a budgeting template. Google Sheets has plenty of free budget templates that can help you with that.
These templates also offer unique features like visually presenting your expenditure vs income, helping you make financial projections, and monitoring the little things you may otherwise overlook.
Using these free budget templates in Google Sheets can potentially help you control your finances and keep things in check.
Our top 10 free budget templates in Google Sheets
There are so many free budgeting templates in Google Sheets, some have quite exciting features while others offer little or no difference from the next one.
And so, coming up with just 10 out of the numerous budgeting templates out there was surely no easy task. But certain factors determine how useful a budgeting template could be for its user.
Features of a good budgeting template
A good budgeting template should offer features that include:
- Ease of use: A product that is hard to use is nearly useless. That is why at the top of things to look out for is the intuitiveness of the template.
- Benefits: More features usually translates to more benefits. There are templates designed to serve one basic purpose such as tracking expenses, and they do it very well. Others do more than that. A good budget template should offer more than just one benefit.
- Popularity: Popularity doesn’t always mean quality. However, having a buzzing community and lots of people satisfied with a product surely is a sign that it’s good–and so puts it up in our regard.
Based on the considerations above we’ve come up with the 10 best free budget templates in Google Sheets we think you should have a look at.
10. Google Sheets monthly budget planner
To start off the list we have Google Sheets’ very own budgeting template. It would be totally weird if we did a list of budgeting templates in Google Sheets and didn’t include the budgeting template from Google Sheets.
That said, this monthly budgeting template is great. It has a very simple interface designed to be easily understood plus it comes with a dashboard you can customize to fit your finances as you wish.
9. 50/30/20 budget calculator
The 50/30/20 rule is popular in budgeting. Unlike the zero-sum technique that most budget templates are based on, the 50/30/20 rule encourages you to only spend 50% of your income on what you absolutely need, 30% on what you want and finally, 20% should be channelled to your savings and paying off debts.
This is a frugal budgeting technique but some people follow it loyally.
This budgeting template enables you to manage your finances with that rule in mind.
8. Annual budget by Keepify
Keepify’s template isn’t one to ignore. It was designed with minimalism in mind enabling the user to know their way around it without expending much effort. Keepify also offers articles and tips that help users understand the tool.
It is an annual budgeting template. And it uses a slightly different approach to budgeting—the use of income tax filings and tax tables of the year as the basis to determine your income, then it uses its simple budget to plan out the year’s expenses. It also includes multiple tabs offering users more features.
7. Vertex42 budget template
This is a personal monthly budgeting template. With the main focus being personal expenditures instead of those encountered in the course of business or other affairs.
Categories in the template include:
- Income
- Home expenses
- Health and living expenses
6. RegPaq’s budget template
RegPaq’s template is beautifully designed and easy to use. It also has a graphical interface that helps you visually review your budget information.
This template is based on the popular “I will teach you to be rich ” by Ramit Sethi. For those who follow the tips in the book, this template is good news.
Some great features of this budgeting template include:
- A detailed guide to get you started
- Monthly income vs expenses break down
- Annual salary calculations
5. 20-something finance budget template
This budgeting template features a basic interface, nothing flashy.
But the notable thing about it is the way it categorizes expenses. The budgeting template has 12 columns, each representing a month. Then, expenses are grouped into consistent and inconsistent i.e regular and one-time expenses.
The creators are aware of the fact that a lot of the expenses we encounter are not routine and it makes room for taking those into account.
Also, It is a monthly budgeting template.
4. Complete budget and receipt tracker
A budgeting template that is quite multi-functional with several benefits. Aside from budget tracking, it enables one to create receipts on the fly. It does this by attaching a Google form to the template. This form lets you group your transactions on the go and attach receipt tags and descriptions that you can upload to your Google Drive account.
This is quite a handy feature that is present in only a few budgeting templates.
3. Smartsheet college template
This template deserves a top spot on our list for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a budgeting template that targets an underserved audience— the young people who are often hit hard with the reality that they are to become responsible for managing their finances.
Therefore, a budgeting template designed specifically for college students is a welcome development.
While there are other college templates, this one from Smartsheet caught our attention. It has a simple design with 4 columns for every semester, each one having expected income and expenses.
Categories in the budget include income from sources like salary, parents, student loans, and scholarships.
Sources of expenses include transport, daily living expenses, home, school, etc.
2. Household budget template
This is a popular budgeting tool by Smartsheets designed specifically for households. Much of the expenses we encounter take place in the home. A beautiful and intuitive template designed for such a crucial area is bound to be appreciated.
Types of expenses in the template include:
- Necessary expenses e.g rent and electricity.
- Discretionary expenses e.g outdoor recreation and vacation.
- Investment expenses e.g brokerage deposits.
1. Aspire’s annual budget template
At the top of our list is this very spreadsheet from Aspire.com. There are so many features of the template that make it outstanding. It maintains an elegantly designed yet easy-to-use interface while offering some nice features, including
- zero-based budgeting
- in-depth analysis of multiple budget categories and
- multi-account tracking with an option to review budget dashboards from previous months.
Another notable thing is the strong platform and community behind it— boasting over 6,000 users. So, unless numbers mean nothing to you, that is pretty great.
And that’s the end of our list. While this is by no means all there is, each budgeting template has its benefits. And they all stand out from the rest one way or the other.
Conclusion
These top 10 free budget templates in Google Sheets can help you plan, save, and develop more discipline towards your finances. Start using them today–and also share this with someone who may need it.
See also
Check out other insightful articles on our blog:
https://blog.tryamigo.com/how-to-use-fv-function-in-google-sheets/
https://blog.tryamigo.com/how-to-calculate-cagr-in-google-sheets/
https://blog.tryamigo.com/how-to-create-progress-bars-in-google-sheets/