Personal budget template

Personal budget templates help you track monthly income and expenses. Monthly and yearly totals are calculated, and sparklines highlight trends and patterns in your spending. Whether you want to better control your finances or are saving for a specific goal, there’s a personal budgeting template that will work for you. This is an accessible template.

How do you use a Personal budget template?

Follow these four steps when you want to make a personal budget:

 Step 1: Note your net income

The first step in creating a budget is to identify the amount of money you have coming in. Keep in mind, however, that it’s easy to overestimate what you can afford if you think of your total salary as what you have to spend. Remember to subtract your deductions for Social Security, taxes, 401(k), and flexible spending account allocations when creating a budget worksheet. Your final take-home pay is called net income, and that is the number you should use when creating a budget.

 Step 2: Track your spending

It’s helpful to keep track of and categorize your spending so you know where you can make adjustments. Doing so will help you identify what you are spending the most money on and where it might be easiest to cut back. Begin by listing all your fixed expenses. These are regular monthly bills such as rent or mortgage, utilities, or car payments. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to cut back on these, but knowing how much of your monthly income they take up can be helpful. Next list all your variable expenses—those that may change from month to months such as groceries, gas, and entertainment. This is an area where you might find opportunities to cut back. Credit card and bank statements are a good place to start since they often itemize or categorize your monthly expenditures.

 Step 3: Set your goals

Before you start sifting through the information you’ve tracked, make a list of all the financial goals you want to accomplish in the short and long term. Short-term goals should take no longer than a year to achieve. Long-term goals, such as saving for retirement or your child’s education, may take years to reach. Remember, your goals don’t have to be set in stone, but identifying your priorities before you start planning a budget will help. For example, it may be easier to cut spending if you know your short-term goal is to reduce credit card debt.

 Step 4: Make a plan

Use the variable and fixed expenses you compiled to help you get a sense of what you’ll spend in the coming months. With your fixed expenses, you can predict fairly accurately how much you’ll have to budget for. Use your past spending habits as a guide when trying to predict your variable expenses. You might choose to break down your expenses even further, between things you need to have and things you want to have. For instance, if you drive to work every day, gasoline probably counts as a need. A monthly music subscription, however, may count as a want. This difference becomes important when it’s time to make adjustments.

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