![]() Income is any money you plan to get during that month-that means your normal paychecks and any extra money coming your way through a side hustle, garage sale, freelance work or anything like that. That will give you the info you need as you start filling out numbers in your budget. Pro tip: Before you dive into the steps, open up your online bank account or grab your bank statements. Just saying.) Either way, it’s totally okay to start by writing out everything on a sheet of paper. It’s what I use to budget-and it’s the best. No matter how you feel about budgeting right now, no matter what money goals you have, and no matter your income-you can make (and keep!) a budget in just five steps.īut first, decide if you’re making a budget on paper, with a spreadsheet, or in an app. Keep reading to see how to make it happen so you can make a budget that works for you. When you learn how to make a budget-and do it every month-you’re giving your money purpose. It’s a plan for what’s coming in and what’s going out. It’s not a restriction on spending-it’s a plan for what you’ll do with your money. Real quick though, let’s define the word budget. Make a New Budget Before the Month Begins.Here’s how to make a budget in five steps. So, here we go-bite by bite, step by step. (You go one bite at a time.) And no one leaps into budgeting like a pro. Because no one eats an elephant by swallowing it whole. If your car registration is due in January, for example, then your car rego category would only have a value under January, the rest of the year would be 0.Making a budget might seem overwhelming at first, but hear this: You can do it. I’ve typed in some data to show you what it will look like, but you wouldn’t just type the same thing for each month. You will notice that the formulas change automatically as you add your data (tip: use the fill handle to copy values across your budget). If there are months where the income or expenses are zero, then type 0 – this will ensure that the average calculates properly. If you’ve been tracking your expenses, then use the information to fill in your budget. Type in expected income and expenses for each month. So you want to make sure there are no calculation errors in your spreadsheet.ĭo this by entering easy data like $10 into various parts of your spreadsheet and making sure all the formulas calculate correctly. The budget decisions you make are only as good as the data you’re relying on. Save As again to create a budget just for this year. Save As now and you will have a template that can be reused every year. Tip: if you type January and click on the small black box (fill handle) in the bottom right-hand corner of cell B2 and drag it across, it will fill in the rest of the months for you without you having to type them. Next, type the months along the next row, staring at B2. ![]() Start a new document and give it a heading like Budget. Make sure to customise the spreadsheet expense and income categories to your personal circumstances. Steps Building A Basic Home Budget Spreadsheetīelow are the steps, accompanied with diagrams, to creating a basic home budget. You should always consult a qualified financial expert when making money decisions to tailor plans to suit your circumstances. ![]() In this blog, I share my savings and budget planning and what works for us. If you don’t have Excel, then the free alternatives ( Open Office or Google spreadsheets) are pretty similar and this tutorial should still be helpful the functions will just be in different menus.ĭisclaimer: This is general information only. ![]() ![]() The tutorial is based on the latest version of Excel, so if you’re using the older version of Excel, you will find the same functions in the toolbar and menu bar. This tutorial starts from the very beginning for those who have never met a spreadsheet before. When you create your own budget yourself, you can customise it to meet your own needs and circumstances exactly. I have been using it now for over a decade. Excel is an awesome program for personal budgeting. ![]()
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