Do you want to take control of your finances? Using a budget template is one of the easiest ways to start managing your money better.
Start focusing on your money from month to month and make a budget you can follow. By simply having a better grasp of your money you will be far less stressed in life and living paycheck to paycheck.
What are Budget Templates?
A budget template is a categorized way to look at where your money is allocated each month. Using a budget template helps you easily manage your money better and know exactly where your money is going each month.
Monthly budget templates can be either electronic or printable where you can use paper and pencil.
How does a Budget Template Work?
Budget templates are easy and simple to use. Think about all of your monthly bills or where your monthly spending comes from.
As you begin to break down your monthly expenses, you are able to set your monthly price. By the end of the month, you should zero out from your money coming in.
Before you get started on using these monthly budget templates, make sure you know why it is so important to have a budget.
Shockingly many Americans do not budget out their money and find themselves either living paycheck to paycheck or in debt.
In order to live the stress-free financial life that you want you NEED to have a budget!
Check out some awesome budgeting tips or our step by step how to start a budget guide for more help on getting started.
Best Printable Monthly Budget Templates
1. FREE Simple Monthly Budget Template from The Savvy Couple
We created this simple monthly budget template to get you started with budgeting. Make this printable budget sheet work for you by tailoring it your individual budget needs.
If you are looking for an entire personal finance and budgeting solution head over to our shop and grab yourself a copy of The Budgeting Binder.
This is a tool we personally created after paying off $25,000 worth of debt in only 5 months. It has everything you need to start budgeting, save an emergency fund, and destroy your debt.
2. Monthly Budget Printable Template from Frugal Fanatic
Frugal Fanatic wants you to get a better grasp on your finances by using this blank printable budget template. I like this template because it is very simple to follow.
This printable budget sheet also allows for some expenses I might have looked over from my own budget.
Frugal Fanatic has a monthly expense category called Household Maintenance. We have a lot of items we put into our “other” category that would fit nicely into this category.
3. Similar Dave Ramsey Budget Envelope System from Frugal Mom eh!
If you follow Dave Ramsey and his envelope system, this printable is for you! This Dave Ramsey budget sheet has a beautiful color scheme.
I don’t know about you, but it makes budgeting feel more fun and relaxed! Check out Elizabeth’s labels and envelope designs.
4. Printable Monthly Budget from Calizfornia
One reason I love Google is because of Google Docs. Very similar to Microsoft Word, but you can have access to it from anywhere, even on your phone.
Elizabeth over at Calizfornia created this awesome Google Doc for a simple printable budget sheet. You can customize the budget categories to match your expenses and either print it or edit it online!
5. Family Budget Worksheet from A Mom’s Take
Bright, colorful, and clean family budget worksheet. This printable budget sheet not only has your monthly expenses, it also has a large section for long-term planning and investments.
Many budget printables forget about this aspect of budgeting, but it is crucial to plan for the future and retirement.
If you download one and it doesn’t work for you, come back and try another one next month. Budget worksheet printables will help you start to track your expenses and get your finances under control!
Best Electronic Budgeting Template Software
Maybe you are not a pencil and paper kind of person and you want to be able to budget your money using an online budget site.
There are both free and paid websites to help you budget your money.
These websites allow you to look at your finances from month to month and then yearly outcomes as you keep using the software.
6. Personal Monthly Budget using Mint (FREE)
Kelan and I use Mint and Personal Capital to budget our money. We have been with Mint since March of 2013.
Imagine all the data we can go back and track over the years to really fine-tune our budget each month.
Mint just updated their software and the new interface is SO user-friendly.
Another great thing I love about Mint is their app I have downloaded on my phone. I am able to easily check before I walk in the grocery store how much is left for the month for groceries.
7. Simple Budget Planner using Personal Capital (FREE)
Personal Capital is another great free online budgeting tool to use to track your monthly and yearly finances.
We also have been using Personal Capital for a long time but mostly for cash flow, investments, retirement, and net worth. Our favorite feature is being able to project our potential retirement account depending on the different factors we put in.
Chasing financial independence and being able to retire when and how we want is a goal of ours.
8. Dave Ramsey’s Budget Forms using Mvelopes ($4/month)
If you love the concept of Dave Ramsey’s budget envelope system, than this is the online budget tool for you!
I love how you can open different “envelopes” to check on how much you have budgeted, funded, and spent. A digital take on the classic envelope system.
9. Monthly Budget Template using Every Dollar (FREE)
Every Dollar has the most monthly budget template look to a printable. The feel is very clean and organized. A crucial aspect of managing your money; financial organization!
The mobile app also allows maintaining that organization on the go with your mobile device.
10. Why You Need A Budget using YNAB ($6.99/month)
Completely worth the $6.99 a month to take control of your finances over on YNAB.
You can break down your finances over the span of multiple months, as shown above, to see how much of your money is being spent. I love the circle graph and the break down in percents.
It really shows you what you can work on decreasing in your monthly budget.
Bonus: Microsoft Excel Budget Templates
If you like going old school and using Microsoft Excel to budget your money then look no further!
Microsoft has a variety of options to fit all your budgeting needs. From personal family budgets, monthly budget templates, holiday budget templates, budget calculators, and even wedding budget trackers, they have plenty of free options to use.
Whether you are using one of the printable budget templates or an online personal budget form, you can not go wrong.
You are budgeting! That is all that matters because you took a first step to managing your money.
If you are looking for support on budgeting, saving money, and starting a side hustle we invite you to join our private Facebook group!
We need help, in our 50s lots of dept
Start budgeting right away. Track every dollar. What type of debt do you have? What’s the interest rate? How much?
Listen to Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” on YouTube. Start implementing his tactics.
I’m a faithful YNAB user but that printable from A Mom’s Take is SO GORGEOUS I wanted to use it NOW. Budgeting is often seen as negative but it has shown us what we CAN do and given us the confidence and data to take big risks.
Her printable looks amazing! Totally agree budgeting is NOT restricting but freeing.
Creating a budget is so important. I am currently trying to help some relatives with their dire financial situation and I just can’t get them to understand how life changing it could be for them. They feel like they are so strapped that it wouldn’t be worth trying to create a budget. I’m a little old school and just created a simple excel spreadsheet for myself but I may have to try one of these you’ve listed, or it might at least inspire me to pretty up my own now.
Nothing wrong with excel, it’s actually a very powerful tool!
I enjoy seeing in print systems I have been doing for years. My deceased husband always
teased my for “systems” but your web site proved me RIGHT. What a nice feeling.
Marge
What if you and your husband have separate bank accounts?
You can still budget together and work on big time goals. Or you can combine. Just have to figure out what works best for both of you and stick to it.
We use Excel to track our spending so we can create whatever fields we want to track. Something that has helped us a lot is tracking by Spender — each member of the family, but also our businesses. This way, we can look at a category, such as Meals, but also who it’s for (us as a family, a business expense, an individual in the family). If someone is overspending, we can easily see it. If a category is outsized, we can see that too.
I have been using this template fur a couple of months. I finally feel as if I manage my budget instead of in managing me. When you live on SSI with 2 kids its hard but I was able to start a savings account and money on hand for kids school things that crop up out of the blue. Thank for sharing
So happy our budget template has helped you start to manage your money better Helen. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for these great budget templates. I find it so interesting to see the differences and perfect for picking the right one for me and my daughter.
So happy to help Scarlet. Feel free to reach out if you need help with budgeting.