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Preface
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To use this budget, click "File" and then "Make a Copy" to make your own, editable copy. This is a "zero-based" and "envelope method" budget. This means every dollar you have available in your bank accounts and in cash at any given moment will ALWAYS be assigned to a "Budget Fund Category." If you were to take all of the money in your bank accounts and cash, and subtract all the money you currently owe on Credit cards, and subtract all the money you've assigned to a "Budget Fund Category," the number would be exactly $0.00. Since most people don't actually pay for things in cash or place their money in actual envelopes, you can think of each "Budget Fund Category" as the same thing as a "Budget Envelope."
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Color Code
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You can only update YELLOW shaded cells. Do not ever delete hidden rows or columns. Note: Some yellow cells will change colors (as described below) once they've been changed.
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PURPLE cells should always be exactly $0.00.
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GREEN cells represent Budget Fund Categories in which you have a large available balance.
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RED cells represent Budget Fund Categories in which you've overspent money.
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ORANGE cells on the "Purchases & Transactions" sheet represent when you transfer money from one account to another. This is a visual cue to place the amount in the "transfer" column.
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MAGENTA cells on the "Transactions & Transactions" sheet represent Income/Money Earned. This is a visual cue to place the amount in the "inflow" column.
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TEAL cells on the "Purchases & Transactions" sheet represent money spent / outflowing money. This is a visual cue to ensure that you're placed the transaction in the correct column.
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Initial Budget Setup & Customization:
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 - Type in each of your current account balances on the "Opening Account Balance" Sheet. Only change numbers on this sheet once. You will change the numbers on this sheet only on the date you start using the budget. Once you've entered the correct balances, I suggest "hiding" this sheet so you do not accidentally update it later.
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- Type in the Month and the Year your start using this budget on the "Opening Account Balances" sheet.
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- Choose which "Budget Fund Categories" you'd like to use on the "Budget Categories" sheet.
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- The "Monthly Budget" sheet will automatically input your current available cash & bank account balance into cell G6 of the "Monthly Budget" sheet. You will need to allocate all of your current money into a "Budget Fund Category" in column G of the "Monthly Budget" sheet.
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- Make sure that cell G6 on the "Monthly Budget" sheet is exactly $0.00 after you are done allocating your currently available starting money into a "Budget Fund" category.
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Purchases & Transactions Sheet - Day-to-Day Budget & Expense Tracker Use
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- Enter all purchases & transactions on the "Purchases & Transactions" sheet.
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- When you make a purchase, enter the amount you paid in the "outflow" column. The account from which money was withdrawn should
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- When you receive money, enter the amount you received in the "inflow" column,
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- If you transfer money from one account to another account, or if you pay a Credit card bill, enter the amount that was moved in the "transfer" column.
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- Any time you "transfer" money from one account to another, enter that transaction here. Examples of "transfering" money includes moving money from a savings account to a checking account, withdrawing money from an ATM, and paying a Credit card bill. Choose "Transfer Money or Credit Card Bill Payment" as the "Budget Category" anytime you transfer money or pay a Credit card bill.
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- Categorize any money you receive from an outside source as " Income." This includes paychecks, monetary gifts, found money, and interest earned.
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- Categorize all purchases and refunds to the correct corresponding "Budget Category" on the "purchases & transactions" sheet.
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- Never enter values as negative numbers on the "Purchases & Transactions" sheet. All purchases are "outflow." Refunds & Income are "inflow."
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Day-to-Day Budget & Expense Tracker Use: Monthly Budget Sheet
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The spreadsheet is automatically calculating how much income you earn each month and is keeping a total on the "Monthly Budget" sheet in Row 6.
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- At the beginning of the month each month, you'll need to allocate the money you earned the PREVIOUS month into a budget category. For example, in May of 2020, you will allocate all of the money you earned during the month of April of 2020. You can adjust the amounts you allocate to each Budget Fund Category each month as needed.
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- For the very first month that you use this budget, you'll need to assign ALL of the money you currently have available to a "Budget Allowance Category." Your current available money is all of the money you have in your bank accounts MINUS all of the money you currently owe on your Credit cards. You will assign this money in column G of the "Monthly Budget" spreadsheet. Your current starting available balance (on the day that you start using this budget) is automatically listed in column G of the "Monthly Budget" sheet.
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- As you allocate money to a "Budget Fund Category," the amounts in rows 5 and 6 are automatically calculating how much you've allocated and how much income is remaining to allocate.
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- All of the purple cells in row 6 of the "Monthly Budget" must be exactly $0.00 for the spreadsheet to work correctly. They will be exactly $0.00 when you've allocated all of the money you earned LAST month into a Budget Fund Category.
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- When you make the purple cells in row 6 equal $0.00, this means you've assigned every dollar you earned the previous month into a budget fund category.
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- column B on the Monthly Budget sheet is titled "Current Total Available Fund Balance." This is a running total for ALL time that shows how much money you have available to spend in that specific Budget Fund Category. This column is also exactly the same as column G of the "Current Balances" sheet. This is the sum of all the money you've every allocated to this budget category MINUS all the money you've ever spent in that category.
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If a cell in "Current Total Available Fund Balance" is a negative value, this means you have overspent in that Budget Fund Category. You need to adjust the money you allocate to that budget this month.
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IMPORTANT: As you earn money each month, the Monthly Budget sheet will AUTOMATICALLY be calculating this income and adding it to the NEXT month's income column. This means that you will constantly have income in your bank accounts that you have not yet assigned to a "Budget Category." Therefore, line 9 on the "Monthly Budget" sheet is called "Next Month's Temporary Income Holding Spot for Unallocated Money."
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Here's an example: Let's say it's March 21, and you've thus far been paid $8,560.11 in the month of March as income. You won't be assigning that money to a specific budget category until April 1, however, the spreadsheet knows that you have that money in your bank accounts today, on March 21. Where should that $8,560.11 "go" for the rest of the month, before you actually assign it to a budget category? It will go into Row 9 on the Month Budget sheet, or else the spreadsheet is going to tell you that your "Available Bank Account Balance" and "Budget Category Balance" have a $8,560.11 discrepancy. To "fix" this discrepancy, you'll temporarily type in "$8,560.11" into Row 9 of April's month. By doing this, you will tell the budget that you have assigned all of the money in your bank accounts into a Budget Allowance Category (even though you technically have not yet.) The "Budget Allowance Category" that you've temporarily assigned this $8,560.11 to is called "Next Month's Temporary Income Holding Spot for Unallocated Money." This is a bright yellow line on the "Monthly Budget" spreadsheet, row 9.
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Purchases Summary Sheet
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