Budgeting is crucial for the success of any business, and it’s also an excellent practice to keep your finances in check as an individual. But, to be real, it’s difficult to keep an eye on your funds when you get awash with bills from here and there. And Google Sheets budgeting templates would greatly help you plan your spending better.
In this article, we’ll explore what budget templates are, the best Google Sheets budget template you can find online, their benefits, and some nice-to-haves when creating one.
What Is a Budget Template and Is It for You?
A budget template is a document file that you use to track your spending and income, as well as plan your finances. It isn’t entirely suitable for tracking your daily ten-buck purchases (though it’s okay) but is more appropriate for long-term forecasts.
Using a budget template may be helpful if you’re struggling to properly balance your money. It’s also for people who want to organize their finances and are looking to start a business.
Budget templates are actually a necessity in the business world, especially because you don’t want to be losing money due to reckless spending.
But in general, you can use a budget template if you love seeing where your money goes.
4 Best Free Google Sheets Budget Templates for Better Finances
If you don’t know how to create a spreadsheet for your budgeting goals, don’t worry! We’ve got some of the best templates that you can find for Google Sheets. All you have to do is download a copy on your end, start filling out the necessary details, and you’re done!
Here are the 4 best Google Sheets budget templates for better finances in 2023:
1. Zero-based Budgeting Template Google Sheets
Download the template here: Zero-based Budget Template
One popular technique in budgeting is the idea of “zero-based,” where you need to allocate the entirety of your net income into planned expenses until their difference becomes zero. This way, you can ensure that your hard-earned funds are spent wisely.
Let’s say that you have a startup capital of $20,000 for your soap business. What you want to do is list all crucial expenses to operate your venture, such as material acquisition, logistics, marketing, and more. You want to do this until the budget gets exhausted.
And you can easily do this using our zero-based budgeting template. It displays the total income that you’ve generated and compares it against the total allocated funds. You’ll also see the remaining balance that you need to divide further.
The best thing about it is that you can also use it for individual budgeting!
2. Simple Business Google Sheets Budget Template
Download the template here: Business Budget Template
One of the most important aspects of any business is how its funds flow — the amount of money generated, spent, and gained. If you’re in the early years of your enterprise, taking time to organize your income and expenses in a simple budget sheet would give you a clear insight on how to better strategize your funds.
To be more specific, you want to divide your operating income and expenses into separate categories and tally the amount. We have a printable budget spreadsheet template that you can easily use for such purposes.
After downloading it on your computer, start listing the amount of money you received from your various income sources. This may include your company’s profits and gifts you might receive from others. Do the same for your expenses, and the template will automatically tally your numbers.
If you prefer, you can also set the company name at the top, as well as the year, for a document report look.
3. Google Spreadsheet Budget Template for Students
Download the template here: Student Budget Template
Starting to learn how to budget your finances as a student will let you take a step ahead of your peers when you finish college. For example, proper budgeting may help you save some bucks over the years that you can use to start investing or building your own business.
Being responsible for your finances can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but you should know that budgeting doesn’t have to be complicated. You can begin by listing your total allowance from your parents or scholarship grants, then slowly build your way to a more comprehensive plan.
You can easily do this with a student-friendly Google Sheets budget template. Our version of it features four phases (from semester 1 to 4) and categorizes the various expenses that you’d usually need as a student. It’s got a few built-in formulas too, for easy calculations.
4. Household Budgeting Template for Families
Download the template here: Household Budget Template
Aside from managing a business, you must also take care of your household budget. This lets you answer questions about whether the money is enough for your whole family tree or if there are dollars left to save and invest after buying all your daily living needs.
Since it’s for the household, you also have to consider the fees for your real estate (property tax, mortgage, and the like), the school expenses of your kids (if you have them), and other kinds of expenses.
Our household budgeting template contains several categories that reflect the usual costs of running a home, such as utilities, entertainment, and daily living expenses. There’s also a section for allocating money for your wants and your investments.
Benefits of Having a Budget Template
Admittedly, the benefits will vary depending on how you use your budget template. But below are a few tangible benefits that you can gain by using one:
- Organized finances: As we’ve explored above, most budget templates feature various categories that help you organize your money flow.
- Automated computations: Google Sheets budget templates are often built-in with formulas that automatically get updated as you enter or modify your details. For example, it may display an instant sum or percentage of your total income.
- Collaboration features: Google Sheets support easy sharing and collaboration of spreadsheets, which would be perfect if you want to have your partner in life do the budgeting with you. It’s also a great tool for teams and businesses that use it as part of their work.
- Setting spending limits: Take a zero-based budgeting template, for example. As you have already allocated every dollar in your wallet and account, you have to spend it carefully to avoid going over the set amount (unless you want to have potential debts or have no free money at all).
- Reaching your financial goals: More often than not, careful budgeting makes way for accumulating savings, which you can then use for investing. You can also track your savings on a budgeting template.
What Should a Good Budget Template Have?
There are really no benchmarks when it comes to budget templates — they can be as simple as listing your expected salary minus the few general payments you have to make. But if you’re planning to create your own budget spreadsheet, here are some nice-to-haves that you want to include:
- Specific categories for your income and expenses: You want to track how your money comes and goes. This also lets you brainstorm about all possible money sources you have, as well as the important payments you have to settle.
- Functions and formulas: Create a template that automatically calculates the total of your funds spent and gained. This way, you don’t have to laboriously add the funds one by one. And they’re the essence of spreadsheets too.
- Colors for separate categories: While this is optional and relies on your preferences, you want a template that comes in different colors for the categories. This allows for visual ease and prevents error.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Google Sheets Have a Budget Template?
Yes, Google Sheets does have a few budget templates that you can check out. Simply go to the template gallery and you will find it under the “Personal” category. There are only two options available for you to choose from: monthly and annual budgeting.
If you find them not on par with your requirements, consider creating a version of your own or download our templates at Spreadsheet Point.
2. Is Google Sheets Good for Budgeting?
Yes, Google Sheets is one of the best apps you can use for your budgeting goals. Spreadsheets, in general, are great for managing your numbers, but what sets Google Sheets apart is that it’s free to use. It also allows for easy collaboration and sharing, which would come in handy when you have a partner or a few friends to budget money with.
Final Thoughts
Managing your money in a clear and organized manner is one of the key points you need to consider in business. You want to keep your mind at peace by properly allocating your income, and you can do this easily by using Google Sheets budget templates.
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