Household Budget Planner

Household Budget Planner is ideal for creating a monthly family budget and keeping a record of the actual expenses aligned with projected income. This spreadsheet includes categories for recording your child-related and business expenses, which makes it very convenient when planning your family budget.

Various expense categories incorporated in this budget spreadsheet are highly itemized and therefore thorough. They provide details of almost any possible expense which an average family may incur from month to month. The income category is also extremely detailed. It includes space for recording income from multiple sources.

The categories include three different columns: Budget, Actual and Difference. The difference is calculated with a predefined formula and highlights the cell either in green (good) or red (bad) color. We have also included a bar chart that visually presents your projected income and expenses versus actual, as they get recorded. This chart makes it even easier to spot categories in which you might have overspent.

How to use the Household Monthly Budget Spreadsheet

Begin by entering values in the Budget column of each category. In the income section you will need to enter your monthly income expected from each of your income sources. Categories are equipped with a row that calculates the "Total" for the group.

Predefined formulas in the "Monthly Budget Total" section are responsible for summarizing your budgeted and actual income and expenses. In this section you should also enter your starting balance, whether it is positive or a negative amount. The starting balance is the money that you have at the beginning of your budget before you factor in any current or future income. For example, this could be your accumulated savings during previous months.

Updating the actual income and expense section regularly as incurred throughout a month ensures the accuracy of your budget and prevents from overspending. At the end of the month, when all actual Income and Expenses are recorded, the Household Budget Planner provides a detailed summary of where you stand financially.

Household Budget Planner lets you see the estimated and actual income and expenses side-by-side, which is very convenient, especially when you update your spreadsheet regularly. It helps to spot expenses in various categories where you might have overspent and potentially help you to prevent doing this again. Of course, this may not always be the case and some expenses can sometimes be unavoidable, in which case you can always look for other expenses that can be limited or eliminated.

The Monthly Budget Total section at the top provides the difference in the overall income and the quick overview of your budget. Additionally, you can see the End Balance, specifically the difference between the amount in the Starting Balance and the End Balance of the actual expenses column for the month. If the end balance is lower than the starting balance, you need to look for more ways to save or increase your income. Alternatively, if the balance is growing from month to month, you are on the right track and you should probably look for good investment opportunities with the potential to increase your income further.