(File > Make a Copy)Īgain, you can access the spreadsheet HERE » It's a plain old Google Sheet, and it's view-only. If you want to use it, you'll have to make a copy.
If you want to set up a budget in the traditional sense, imposing spending limits on each category, this sheet will help you establish those limits. However, you'll need to make some of your own additions if you want to track your spending in relation to a budget rather than to get an idea of where your money goes.
They are arbitrary numbers I chose to demonstrate how the spreadsheet works. These are not my actual spending numbers.And I found having 40 category folders in a drop-down list to be tedious. That was fine, and I recommend it, or a similar service like Mint or You Need a Budget, over doing nothing. If you don't know where your money goes today, how are you going to realistically plan where it should go tomorrow? Unless we start writing things down, we're all going to continue lying to ourselves about how much we spend on bagels, anyway.įor a few years, I let LearnVest (where I used to work) track my spending automatically, by connecting my accounts. If you think about it for 30 seconds, it makes perfect sense. I don't pretend to be a financial expert or hold any kind of certification, but between writing, editing, and reading hundreds (thousands?) of stories about money, I've picked a few things up.Ĭhief among them is that the best, most critical first step you can take to improve your finances is to track your spending.
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