Take control of your finances without the guesswork.
Our free Simple Personal Budget Template is professionally formatted for Google Sheets, Excel, and PDF, making it easy to plan your budget, monitor spending, and build better money habits.
What Is a Simple Personal Budget Template?
A simple personal budget template is a tool that helps you track your income and expenses in an organized way.
It provides a clear structure to see where your money is coming from and where it’s going each month, making it easier to identify spending patterns and areas where you can cut back.
Download Spreadsheet Daddy’s Free Simple Personal Budget Template
Our Simple Personal Budget Template helps you track your income and expenses by comparing projected amounts against actual spending.
What’s included
- Dual-column tracking system: The template features separate “Projected” and “Actual” columns for both income and expenses, enabling you to compare your planned budget against real spending, with an automatic “Variance” column that calculates the difference to help you identify where you’re over or under budget.
- Organized income and expense sections: Two distinct sections divide your financial tracking, with the Income section at the top for recording all revenue sources and the Expenses section below for tracking outgoing costs, each providing 15 customizable line items to accommodate various income streams and spending categories.
- Comprehensive transaction details: Each line item includes fields for Date, Description, Projected amount, Actual amount, Variance calculation, and Notes, giving you complete flexibility to document every financial entry with context, timing, and additional observations or reminders.
- Real-time savings calculator: The template features a prominent “Total Savings” display at the top that automatically calculates the difference between your total income and total expenses, providing an at-a-glance view of your financial health and helping you monitor whether you’re living within your means.
The template is fully customizable, allowing you to add or remove columns based on your specific budgeting needs.
Choose from the links below to access a free, empty Simple Personal Budget Template in your desired format:
How to Use Our Simple Personal Budget Template
1. Download the template as an Excel or PDF file, or make your own editable version in Google Sheets.
2. Complete the budget table by entering all income and expense items:
- Date: Record the exact date each income is received (e.g., salary, freelance work) or each expense is paid (e.g., rent, groceries, utilities).
- Description: Clearly label each entry, such as “Monthly Salary,” “Rent,” “Internet Bill,” “Groceries,” or “Transportation.”
- Projected: Enter the amount you expect to earn or spend for that item.
- Actual: Record the real amount once the transaction occurs.
- Variance: This column automatically calculates the difference between projected and actual amounts, helping you spot over- or under-spending.
3. As you enter income and expenses, the template automatically calculates total projected amounts, total actual amounts, and the overall variance so you can easily see how your finances compare to your plan.
4. The template automatically calculates total savings at the top of the table based on your income and expenses.
5. Use the Notes column to record explanations for unexpected expenses or differences, reminders for upcoming payments, or any exceptional circumstances that affect your budget.
