6 Free Budget Templates: One for Every Financial Situation

Saving money on free budget templates one does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• Share This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, advisory, or brokerage services.
• We may earn compensation from some links on this page.
• It’s no secret that budgeting works.

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This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, advisory, or brokerage services. We may earn compensation from some links on this page. Learn more.

It’s no secret that budgeting works. In fact, the majority of millionaires keep a budget. 

That’s why we handpicked the best budget template for every type of person, goal and software preference (Numbers, Google Sheets, Excel, etc.).

Whether you’re looking to get out of debt, gain control of your finances, manage your money better or just need a simple free monthly budget template, we have you covered.

Know what you want? Use the table of contents button below to find the type of free budgeting template you’re looking for.

Table of Contents

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• The Best Free Personal Budget Templates
  • Best Template for Beginners: Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet
  • Best Advanced Budgeting Template (Google Sheets Only): Aspire
  • Best Template for Getting Out of Debt: The Ways To Wealth’s Free Budgeting and Debt Reduction Spreadsheet
  • Best Template for Mac Users:  Numbers’ Simple Budget Template
  • Best Printable Monthly Budget Template: Dave Ramsey’s Monthly Cash Flow Plan
  • Best Template for a Low Income: The Poor-Man’s Budgeting Spreadsheet
• Budget Templates FAQ
• Final Thoughts on Personal Budget Templates

The Best Free Personal Budget Templates

We ranked the best budgeting apps, but here’s a list of the best budgeting spreadsheets and templates for those who prefer a more hands-on approach. 

Best Template for Beginners: Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet

Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet is a simple and straightforward budget template that’s highly versatile.

If you’re brand new to budgeting and want to get things started right away without much thought or work, we recommend Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet.

Here’s what you get with this free budget worksheet:

• You can fill it out online and then download the template to your favorite spreadsheet software, whether that’s Numbers, Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. You can also download it first and start working on it offline.
• It uses basic budgeting categories, which is a good thing for beginners who don’t want to get too detailed but who do want a general guideline as to where their money goes.
• You can choose from a one-month period to a 12-month period.

Related app: If you want a simple overview of your finances, Rocket Money is our top choice for a free budgeting app. It’s ad-free and displays key information right in the dashboard. Learn more in our Rocket Money review.

Best Advanced Budgeting Template (Google Sheets Only): Aspire

The Aspire Budget Template is ideal for those looking to create a monthly budget while also tracking other key financial KPIs, like net worth.

During our research, one budget template that really stood out was Aspire Budget. The template is free, but it comes with more features than numerous paid options.

Aspire Budget features include:

• Comes with in-depth video instructions and wiki docs to walk you through how to best use the spreadsheet.
• There’s a Reddit community with over 5,000 members to help answer your questions.
• Uses an envelope-style budgeting method that allows you to keep track of every penny.
• Outputs a dashboard with key metrics for the month.
• As you use it over time, it builds trend reports to compare month-over-month income and expenses.

Related app: Budgeting can be time-consuming, especially if you’re leveraging the envelope method Aspire uses. If you want something that automatically pulls data from your bank account and tracks how much money is coming in vs. going out, check out GoodBudget.

Best Template for Getting Out of Debt: The Ways To Wealth’s Free Budgeting and Debt Reduction Spreadsheet

If the reason you’re budgeting is to pay off debt, check out The Ways To Wealth’s Free Budgeting and Debt Reduction Spreadsheet.

If your goal is to get out of credit card debt, research has shown that the debt snowball method to be the most effective strategy.

With the debt snowball method, you’re paying off your debt in order of smallest to largest balance. That way, you see quick results and feel like you’re making progress with each payment.

We included a free budgeting and debt reduction template in our guide to getting out of debt, which can help you build your debt snowball. While the budget aspect of this template is simple, what’s powerful is what it outputs. Specifically, it shows you how numerous months until you’re debt-free.

If you’re struggling to get out of debt, the number of months it’s going to take you to become debt-free should be your guiding light. Every financial decision should be about reducing that number. So, it’s by knowing that number that you can prioritize your decisions to meet your goal to become debt-free as fast as possible.

App to try: Opt for YNAB. Tens of thousands of people struggling with debt have turned to YNAB (short for “You Need a Budget”) to help get control of their finances. The app has a very loyal user base with a dedicated community. In fact, their subreddit has over 135,000 members.

Best Template for Mac Users:  Numbers’ Simple Budget Template

While the Kiplinger’s Budget Spreadsheet discussed earlier in this article does download as a CSV file (making it compatible with Numbers), there

Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on free budget templates one goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.