Free Budget Worksheets

Budgeting 101

There are many different types of worksheets available for those who wish to develop a household budget. However, most free budget worksheets will include items from the following categories:

• Housing
• Utilities
• Transportation
• Insurance
• Credit card or loan payments
• Food
• Clothing and personal care items
• Entertainment
• Medical expenses
• Education expenses
• Gifts and charitable donations
• Savings

If you find a budget worksheet with categories that don’t apply to your personal situation, simply cross them out and write in more appropriate labels.

Free Budget Worksheets Online

For free budget worksheets online, turn to the following links:

• American Consumer Credit Counseling provides simple budget worksheets in both Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF formats.
• Kiplinger has a web-based budgeting tool that will automatically calculate your expense totals.
• Personal Finance Budgeting has a number of free worksheets available, including a monthly spending plan, debt roll-down worksheet, and net-worth statement.
• Better Budget has a selection of basic budgeting worksheets, as well as printable guides to help you plan for extra holiday expenses.
• Mom’s Budget has basic budgeting worksheets as well as a guide parents can use for teaching young children how to manage their money.
• Money Instructor offers a free lesson plan for teaching the basics of personal finance that includes printable budget worksheets.

Sample Budgets

Since most of us were raised to believe it’s impolite to discuss money, it’s common to feel like you have no clue whether or not your spending is “normal” in relation to those around you. Checking out sample budgets prepared by people living in similar circumstances can help you brainstorm ways to save money in your own life. Here are a few examples:

• $4,000 per month family budget
• $3,500 per month family budget
• $2,400 per month family budget
• $2,200 per month family budget
• $2,000 per month family budget
• $1,700 per month family budget

The Sideroad also has an article listing the average percentage of their income that people spend on food, housing, utilities, and other regular monthly expenses. If you’re interested in how budgets vary across the United States, you may want to review the 2005 family budget report published by the Economic Policy Institute.

Tips for Creating a More Accurate Budget

Regardless of which free worksheet you plan to use for creating your budget, consider the following tips for better money management:

• Before you fill out your budget worksheet, spend some time tracking your daily expenditures. While most people can easily determine how much money they spend on their mortgage and utility bills, it’s often difficult to accurately estimate spending on fast food, DVD rentals, and other incidental purchases.
• If you’re self-employed or work irregular hours, use the lowest amount of money you’ve received in the six months as the baseline for your budget. It’s better to have a little extra left over at the end of the month than to come up short paying for the necessities.
• Reassess your budget on a monthly basis. Contrary to popular belief, a budget is not meant to be fixed in stone. It’s simply a tool to help you track how you are spending your money, so feel free to make adjustments if your financial situation changes.
• If you’re using your budget as a means to a specific financial goal, such as saving for a new television, stick a picture of the item in your wallet. When you’re tempted to stray from your budget, use the picture as a reminder of why it’s important to stay on track.